222. Opus Posthumous

The Concert - Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Work for solo piano by Schubert performed by Ji, piano on April 12, 2015 and work for violin and piano by Schubert performed by Aleksey Semenenko, violin and Inna Firsova, piano on November 2, 2014.

• Schubert: Impromptu Op. 142, No. 3
• Schubert: Sonata in A Major Op. 162 “Grand duo”

How many great works have been saved from the ash heap of history by posthumous publication?

From time to time, one encounters a piece of classical music with a mysterious-looking opus number—often chronologically nonsensical, sometimes containing an abbreviation. Often, this denotes a work published (and assigned a catalogue number) after the composer’s death. Such is the case with both of the Schubert pieces on this podcast—the third Impromptu in B-flat Major and the “Grand duo” Sonata for violin and piano in A Major.

The first is played by Ji, a well-known Korean pianist who won the Young Concert Artists auditions and recently made his Gardner Museum debut. If the theme sounds a bit familiar, don’t be surprised. Drawn from the composer’s incidental music to the play Rosamunde, it was apparently a favorite tune. The impromptu takes the form of a theme and variation.

The “grand duo” sonata—also published after the composer’s death—is fittingly named: the piece exhibits true equality and partnership between the piano and violin, played on this recording by violinist Aleksey Semenenko and pianist Inna Firsova. (Semenenko, like Ji, is a recent YCA winner.) It is an elegant but compact little work, less than 20 minutes in length.