Schubert: Piano Sonata in B-flat major, D.960, 1st Movement (Eric Xi Xin Liang)

...on this channel. Recorded on January 9th, 2026 at home.

Recently, I decided I periodically wanted to hear some music that was in a stable emotional state, that didn't feel like it was necessarily heading anywhere in finality, but just reacting to subtle forces of its own making. I thought: Maybe Scelsi? Too much suspension and irresolution. Maybe Chopin? Too poetic and lyrical. Maybe Ravel? Too lush and conceptually complex. Maybe Sorabji's nocturnes? Too weakly emotionally defined. So, I decided to revisit Schubert's music.

Playing Schubert for the first time in a long time felt like stepping into a different approach rather than discovering something radically new. My usual repertoire thrives on drama, structural complexity, and momentum. Schubert, by contrast, operates on a quieter, more static plane, where the focus is less on narrative development and more on inhabiting a single emotional space.

The repetition and long lines that often draw attention in his music aren’t about virtuosity or climactic moments; they’re simply a different way of shaping musical thought. Themes evolve gently, almost imperceptibly, and attention shifts subtly from one shade to another. It’s less about “getting somewhere” and more about seeing what happens if you stay in one place.

Approaching this as a performer requires a slightly different mindset — one of patience and observation rather than argument or contrast. It’s not that the music is more profound or more expressive than what I usually play; it’s just a different lens.

This is my fourth playthrough, overall, from pure sightreading that I recorded. I'd say my methodologies work excellently at this point. I decided to pick up this piece a few days ago.

All piano works I've recorded:    • All Full Recordings  

My goal through this channel is to bring vitality, spiritual depth, emotional evocation, and captivating narrative to underappreciated and unconventional music that captures the human experience to its fullest potential.

@musicforever60_official on IG:   / musicforever60_official  
#piano #music #classicalmusic

Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Scarlatti, Rameau, Gluck, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Wagner, Verdi, Brahms, Saint-Saëns, Tchaikovsky, Bruckner, Grieg, Rimsky-Korsakov, Dvořák, Mussorgsky, Borodin, Smetana, Puccini, Mahler, Strauss, Debussy, Sibelius, Ravel, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Vaughan Williams, Stravinsky, Bartók, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Hindemith, Orff, Janáček, Britten, Messiaen, Copland, Bernstein, Barber, Cage, Penderecki, Ligeti, Pärt, Górecki, Glass, Reich, Adams, Xenakis, Boulez, Stockhausen.