Beyond Schubert, Vol. 1 – Schubert vs. Andrée

Peter Friis Johansson is one of Sweden's most brilliant pianists right now. He has not least won recognition for more than a decade for his cycles of Franz Schubert's complete piano sonatas. Now that he has finally started recording them under the title 'Beyond Schubert' it is with an unusual approach. Not only does he perform from original manuscripts, and even completes unfinished sonatas – he also combines some of the sonatas with high quality works by Swedish composers that somehow are connected to Schubert's. On this first volume, the charming A Major Sonata, Op. 3, by Sweden's grand old lady, Elfrida Andrée (1841-1929), is placed next to Schubert's equally charming sonata in the same key (D 664). This album starts, however, with Schubert's big A Minor Sonata (D 845), spectacularly performed by Peter.