cottonandgongandsnowlikesong:

Schubert D899 Impromptu No.3 played by Alfred Brendel

Nobody else plays this piece quite like Brendel.  In this particular performance it struck me how he reveals a real searching, surging, tumultuous energy that seems to spiral inward that isn’t quite as obvious in other recordings he’s made or when I’ve heard him play it live.  It seems almost scary at times.

For me this piece has a strong association with my father, he asked to listen to it quite a bit while he was in hospital towards the end of his life. 

I feel with Schubert there are these simple devices of flitting between major and minor and reharmonising the melody that he uses with such great effect, it can be like sunlight through a heavy canopy of leaves.  And that’s kind of how my memories of my dad are.