Jonathan Biss’s mastery of Schubert’s last two sonatas earned roars of approval from the sold-out Shalin Liu Center on Saturday night at the Rockport Chamber Music Festival. From the opening chords of the Sonata in A Major, D. 959, it was clear that this was to be a reverential evening. The artist approached these monumental works with deep understanding, love, and respect.

…..the spring of 1827 seems to have come upon him (Schubert) like a lion, and he wrote off three fine PF solo sonatas….. These pieces, though very unequal, and in parts, extraordinarily diffuse, are yet highly characteristic of Schubert. They contain some of his finest and most original music……full of disappointment and wrath and the gathering gloom of these last few weeks of his life…. Groves, ed. 1939.

In the forte opening chords of D. 959, Biss produced an exquisitely controlled sound: full, rich, and never harsh. He immediately thrust us into S.’s bold harmonic changes. The A major exposition is quickly followed by a development section in C, which allows for a journey of rapid key changes: B major and minor, C major and minor, A minor, C and then back to A. Biss brought a naturalness, a fluidity, and an especially strong LH, so necessary in these works.

The great piano sonata composer LvB had died the year before (Schubert was a pallbearer at his funeral), and, as structurally and harmonically bold as were the former’s late sonatas, Schubert’s last three are even more so. Abrupt key changes always defined his style, easily ushering in the nascent Romantic period. As early as 1810, S.’s brother, Ferdinand, remarked that (even) his earliest compositions (did not end in the keys) in which (they) began. (Groves, ed. 1939).

Throughout, we heard beautiful playing, contrasting lyricism, nurtured by Schubert’s great Lieder cycles (Die Winterreise; Die Schöne Müllerin) with assertive orchestral textures. The poetic surrender to fate forms the dramatic content of the Andantino; therein Biss used minimal pedal to create a dry, almost hollow sound. One could almost hear the last Lied of Winterreise: Der Leiermann, with its lonely, spare piano part (impersonating a hurdy gurdy) and its sad poetry.

The need for some cheer happens next with a delightful Scherzo. The pianist easily shifted to bright delicacy. Lastly, the tuneful Rondo, glistening with easily executed triplets, came to us as the welcome antidote. In the Rondo theme Biss communicated with generosity and warmth.  A surprise return of the Allegro theme comes in the final cadence, somewhat altered, and now in a duple meter. That technically challenging movement heralded the pianist’s faultless technique.

Schubert completed the Sonata in B-flat Major, D.960, only a couple of months before his death. The first movement, in B-flat with its haunting E-natural in the bass against D in the treble clef, presents a melodic chordal theme, contemplative and lyrical; very different from the assertive opening of D. 959. The music is written for an active LH, the treble often supported by the soft thunder of trills, or repeated notes. Biss’s strong technique is a contrapuntal voice throughout. Worth noting is the composer’s abrupt hopping from key to key. We are no longer following the classical tradition of relative minors and dominant seventh chords. Rather, ‘without losing a beat’, S. glides from A major back to B-flat by moving stepwise: C to D in the treble, G to F in the bass achieving a B-flat 6/4 chord (meas. 69 to 70). The artist made much of the oft-contrasting dynamics: lyrical treble vs. shuddering bass, giving a fresh, inventive take on the long first movement.

In the Andante sostenuto, again, so evocative of Die Winterreisse’s sense of hopelessness, Biss allowed the hesitancy of the dotted rhythms, and the slow, but never static tempo always to maintain a forward pace, and he created just the right balance in the more tuneful and less dark second theme. After the seriousness of the slow movement, Biss delivered the Scherzo (in the tonic, B-flat major) and Trio (in B-flat minor), at the indicated tempo markings, carefully calibrating speed, liveliness and delicacy; once more that agile LH impressed. The last movement, Allegro, ma non troppo, beginning with the shock of an octave G in the bass clef, marked f/p, followed by a piano subito, has a kind of bizarre humor. The octave reappears again and again like the landlord’s knock at the door asking for the rent (not unlikely for poor Schubert).

Jonathan Biss made a memorable musical statement last evening. He has joined his predecessors: Schnabel, Kempff, Richter, as well as his near contemporaries, Schiff, Uchida, and Lewis as a significant Schubertian. He shared an exquisite, thoughtful, and deep musicality. Our congratulations, as well for holding the attention of the audience whose phones never rang, and whose interest remained constant. We would have welcomed D. 958, the first of the last three sonatas. My editor will never forget the tear-rending concert of those last three which Gabriel Chodos gave at Jordan Hall a decade ago,

Parisian-born pianist Lucienne Davidson entered the Juilliard school when she was nine. Since making her debut at Weill Recital Hall, she has performed as soloist, chamber musician, and with orchestra.