Schubert: 31

This album’s title, 31, refers to Schubert’s age when he died, and the programme gathers together the last three piano sonatas, all written in 1828, and the three Klavierstücke, D. 946. Often seen as a trilogy, the sonatas are complex and sophisticated but also brim with melody and high emotion. German pianist Fabian Müller is clearly attuned to music of the nascent Romantic era and his Schubert playing beautifully balances the formal and free. The slow movement of D. 958 has a lovely songfulness, which carries through into the first movement of D. 960. But as that work reveals its muscles and ambition, Müller is right there, fully in command.