With Schubert, and in studio, Maria João Pires always attests to playing with pronounced dynamics. Here, the piano reveals a character of tempered steel, which moves further away not only from the immaculate purity of her Mozart but also the more intimate, dreamy interpretations of Schubert, more melancholic than tragic. Moreover, Pires would soften this instinctive, impulsive tone in her later versions for Deutsche Grammophon (releases in 1998 for the Impromptus, and 2013 for D. 960). With Erato, in a large, subtly timbered tone, she unfurls the great sky of the orchestra, and D. 960 becomes the cousin of the Great C major Symphony. In the mid-1980s, going against the trend of the most conspicuous Schubertians – Lupu (Decca) or Brendel (Philips) – Maria João Pires thus proposed another vision of Schubert, one of appropriate simplicity.
