Young-Ah Tak: Schubert: Sonatas D 784 & D 894
Steinway & Sons

A solo piano release from the Steinway & Sons label is always cause for excitement when it brings with it the promise of a beautiful instrument sound. That the musician performing the material is Young-Ah Tak makes the proposition all the more enticing, as does her composer choice for the project, Franz Schubert. With Tak playing a Steinway piano (Model D #607799, to be exact), the two sonatas, recorded in October 2023 at NYC's Steinway Hall, sound—literally and figuratively—terrific. Like many a pianist, Tak was enraptured by Schubert's music the moment she first heard it as a pre-teen, and her love for his material has never abated. And why would it? Commenting on the emotional depth of his music and the sense of privilege she feels performing it, she states, “Schubert's sonatas resonate with the human spirit—their beauty, joy, sadness, drama, and yearning.” Tak derives inspiration, joy, and meaning from the experience, and of course so too does the listener.

She studied at The Juilliard School, New England Conservatory, and the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University (where she earned her doctorate) and is currently an Associate Professor of Piano at the Crane School of Music of the State University of New York - Potsdam. The list of places she's performed is extensive, ranging as it does from the United States to Poland, South Korea, and other countries, and Tak is a member of the Marinus Ensemble. In 2019, she issued a recording of Beethoven piano sonatas on the Steinway & Sons label and for her follow-up tackles another composer dear to the pianist's heart. Schubert was thirty-one when he died but created an incredible body of music during his truncated tenure, including twelve sonatas, from which Tak selected two written late in the composer's life. In her treatments of the Sonata in A minor, D 784 and Sonata in G Major, D 894, Tak exemplifies the finesse and passion for which she's become known and demonstrates an insightful grasp of their kaleidoscopic emotional scope.

The three-movement A minor sonata was completed in 1823, five years before Schubert's death (though not published until eleven years after his passing) and written during a period of hospitalization. Marked “Allegro giusto,” the opening movement initiates the work in the bleak key of A minor with a dark yet nevertheless stately theme delivered sombrely. Extreme dynamic contrasts emerge between aggressive passages and gentler ones until a placid episode follows and the music exchanges despair for lyricism. Tak articulates the movement's abundant dramatic transitions with sensitivity and precision, and her handling of tempo is likewise circumspect. A sense of peaceful resolution emerges during the closing minutes, despite brief eruptions of darkness, after which the subsequent “Andante” injects the work with a cautious sense of hope via lyrical voicings and an overall genial character. Here and elsewhere, it's easy to be seduced by Schubert's melodic gifts. The closing “Allegro vivace” movement flows like a rushing river, with the pianist challenged technically by high-velocity flurries and counterpoint. A serene second theme offers comforting respite from the intensity until the work concludes in a torrential blaze.

Finished in 1826 and published a year later as Fantasie, Andante, Menuetto und Allegretto, Op. 78 (the publisher's choice, perhaps to make the work more palatable commercially), the G Major holds the distinction of being the last of the three sonatas published during his lifetime. At the risk of projecting, the serene tone of the work could be interpreted to suggest its creator was in some way aware of his impending demise; regardless, its peaceful character is certainly one of the reasons why the four-movement, thirty-five-minute work resonates so powerfully. Marked “Molto moderato e cantabile,” the thirteen-minute opening part engages immediately with serene chords and the dreamy lilt of its dignified theme but also expands on the intro with an elaborate exploration before revisiting the hymnal hush of the opening melody. The placid feel carries over into the “Andante” movement, though loud disruptions intermittently emerge that add tension and drama, while the concise “Menuetto – Allegro moderato” that comes after is predictably boisterous, fluttering as it does between hammering chords and lighthearted dance figures. Having begun prettily with radiant melodies and an infectious march feel, the concluding “Allegretto” movement largely sustains the mood of harmonious uplift for the nine-minute duration.

January 2025