Schubert's butterflies

"Well, here’s an unusual album. The pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard is one of those French intellectual musicians with three brains, fearlessly wading through Boulez and other thickets of the contemporary repertoire. So, what is he playing here? A healthy selection of Schubert’s Ländler: popular dance pieces written for domestic consumption, so brief and simple that this 68-minute album contains more than 100 of them, mostly in waltz rhythms — all over just after they’ve begun. Since it´s Schubert, simplicity doesn’t mean superficiality. “Schubert,” Aimard tells us, “manages to plunge us into the heart of the sweetness, ambiguity and vertigo of the realm between life and death.” But whether you feel plunged into such twilight or not, it’s abundantly clear that Aimard’s approach to these miniature jewels is entirely suitable and rewarding. He shapes and shades the notes with poise and subtle inflections, yet nothing becomes overdone, precious or brittle. The 70-year-old Steinway he plays (we’re given its exact model number) is equally special, with a particularly bright upper register perfect for spotlighting the intimacy and vulnerability of Schubert’s melodies, as fragile and beautiful as butterflies as they flit over the keyboard with a lifespan of 30 or 40 seconds. Under the authentic Schubert spell, I would happily have listened on for much longer."