Hyewon Chang: Franz Schubert: Piano Sonatas I
Da Vinci Classics

Building on the positive impression she made with her debut album Fantasie Reflections (Navona Records, 2024), South Korean-born pianist Hyewon Chang returns with a strong collection of Schubert interpretations. Tackling three of the composer's sonatas, Chang illuminates her renditions with the same kind of musicality, poise, and technical command she brought to the earlier set's material by Mozart and Schumann. One comes way from Chang's performances impressed by her assured grasp of a work's character and clarity of articulation. Her renderings are expressive yet also fastidious in their attention to detail.

Chang brings a solid degree of experience to the latest recording. A graduate of the Colburn School and the USC Thornton School of Music (Chang also attended The Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto), she's currently a staff pianist at the Colburn Conservatory of Music and the artistic director of the Aegio International Piano Competition for the California/Los Angeles region. A multiple award-winner, she's performed as a solo pianist and with symphony orchestras in the United States and Europe.

It makes sense that she would follow an album featuring Mozart with one about Schubert, given the influence on him of Mozart and Haydn; his coupling of lyricism and technical sophistication also makes Schubert a natural choice for Chang. Under her fingers, his tonal melodies sing and contrapuntal patterns intertwine with ease. The three Chang presents here provide a fascinating study in contrast when the lighter tone of the first two, the Sonata in A-flat Major, D. 557 and Sonata in A Major, D. 664, is followed by the deeply introspective Sonata in B-flat Major, D. 960. Published posthumously, the monumental four-part work is longer than the others (each in three parts) and is crowned by a twenty-minute first movement of towering scope.

Up first, however, is the A-flat Major sonata, composed in 1817 when Schubert was twenty years old. It was an incredibly fertile time (he apparently composed more than 100 works in a twelve-month period, including sixty-plus songs), with the young composer developing his own voice despite the ongoing influence of Mozart and Haydn. The sonata, reflecting his youth in its carefree splendour, begins with a stately “Allegro Moderato” delivered with acrobatic poise by Chang. Decisions about tempo and phrasing are handled expertly by the pianist, who eases comfortably into the material with fluid and assured expressions. Inhabiting the sonata's centre is a tender “Andante” that retains the stateliness of the opening part; don't miss the authority with which Change executes its rapidly flowing central section too. Sparkling with joy, the energized “Allegro” finale ushers the work to an animated close, its affirmative tone consistent with the composer's outlook at this early stage of his life.

Two years after the A-flat Major sonata, Schubert composed the A Major during a summer stay in the small Austrian town Steyr. Josephine, the piano-playing eighteen-year-old daughter in the family with whom he stayed, is thought to have inspired the sonata. Charmed by her, he imbued it with lyrical and intimate qualities whilst at the same time showing further refinement in his writing style. While still a youthful statement, the work sees technical artistry and emotional expression deftly integrated. Instantly captivating for the prettiness of its lyrical theme (woven throughout the eleven-minute movement), the “Allegro Moderato” is a prototypically bewitching Schubert expression, while the “Andante” again offers marked tonal contrast to the sonata's outer movements. Delicate and intensely inward-probing, the writing's distinguished by serenity, sensitivity, and calm. As in the A-flat Major sonata, the A Major resolves with a dramatic “Allegro” that's robust, spirited, and teeming with energy.

Nine years removed from the A Major sonata is the B-flat Major, Schubert no longer a fresh-faced youth but now thirty-one and dealing with health challenges, inducing weakness and fatigue. He was still, however, productive and able to create an abundance of material, including works for string quintet, piano sonatas, and songs. It's naturally the most mature of the three sonatas featured and reflects the impact of wisdom and experience on his creative psyche. In place of carefree enthusiasm, there's sober rumination, tenderness, and serene contemplation. Awareness of the fragility of life and its fleeting passage permeates the writing, the result the album's most introspective statement. In place of a pretty melody, the expansive opening “Molto Moderato” opts for wistful contemplation and long-form exploration as it undertakes its scenic journey. Schubert takes an even deeper plunge with the "Andante Sostenuto” movement and its haunting tone and dreamy languor. The curtains part for the radiance of the “Scherzo: Allegro Vivace Con Delicatezza-Trio,” its brightness in stark contrast to the solemnity of the second movement, and remain open for the propulsive momentum of the “Allegro Ma Non Troppo-Presto,” its optimism evoking the tone of the earlier sonatas.

April 2026