For the fifth instalment of the critically acclaimed Schubert+ series, Can Çakmur juxtaposes the Viennese composer with his illustrious elder Ludwig van Beethoven, for the first time in this series.

After establishing his mastery of the lied genre, Schubert still had to show his full potential in the realm of piano sonatas, a quintessentially Beethovenian form. In his Sonata in A major, D664, he abandons the traditionally oppositional nature of the sonata in favour of a melody-based narrative in which landscapes appear to change gradually, as if seen from a traveller’s perspective, thus offering a conception that is as new as it is personal.

Beethoven is represented here by a series of variations, a genre in which he also excelled. The 32 Variations in C minor range from tender yearning to an emotional turmoil reminiscent of the ‘Appassionata’ Sonata.

In the Sonata in C minor, D958, composed in 1828, the first of his towering final trilogy, Schubert staked his claim to be seen as Beethoven’s successor as a writer of piano sonatas. In a work that Can Çakmur sees as a tribute to Beethoven, Schubert achieves a synthesis of the master’s influence and the lyricism of his own early sonatas. Just weeks before his death, the younger composer finally sits beside the older master and converses with him on equal terms.