Paul Lewis

It has not been a linear, chronological survey. Lewis has previously paired the vibrant, experimental early pieces with some of the mature masterpieces, hanging elegant sketches next to vast canvasses. But to finish, we must end at the very end. The last three sonatas, written in the final year of Schubert’s life, form a mighty triptych. Wistful, playful, profound, these pieces - so often regarded as a dying man’s farewell - are in fact teeming with life, bristling with new ideas and perfectly proportioned. A summation of an all-too-brief life’s work, this is music to get lost in, to fall under the spell of its cumulative expressive power, and then perhaps return again to the beginning?