Young-Ah Tak Releases an Album of Schubert Sonatas

On November 1, the Steinway & Sons label will release an album of Schubert’s Sonata in A minor, D 784 and Sonata in G Major, D 894 performed by Steinway artist Young-Ah Tak. In addition, Ms. Tak will perform Schubert’s Sonata in G Major along with works by Beethoven in a Steinway Spiriocast from Steinway Hall in New York City on November 7 with subsequent airdates on Nov 9, 21, and 28, 2024. 

The album of Schubert’s Sonatas follows Ms. Tak’s acclaimed 2019 release of Beethoven Piano Sonatas on the Steinway & Sons label and features another composer who is very close to the pianist’s heart. “I have been drawn towards the music of Franz Schubert for as long as I can remember. My first experience studying a Schubert sonata was at age 12, and from then on it has been an important part of my repertoire.”

Despite Schubert’s short life – the composer passed at the age of 31 – he is counted among the greatest classical composers of the 19th century, and one of the earliest proponents of Romanticism.  Ms. Tak chose for this program from Schubert’s twelve completed Piano Sonatas two that were written late in the composer’s life. Schubert’s Piano Sonata in A minor, D. 784 was completed in 1823, but not published until eleven years after the composer’s death. He wrote the Sonata after being hospitalized for the disease that would later take his life, and the work is imbued with darkness – opening with a sparse texture and utilizing his signature “sigh” motive throughout. His last Sonata to be written with only three movements, the Sonata in A minor ushered in a new era for Schubert’s output of pianistic works. The Sonata in G Major, D. 894 – given the moniker “Fantasie” by Schubert’s publisher – was finished in 1826 and was the last of the three Sonatas published during his lifetime. Deemed by composer Robert Schumann to be Schubert’s “most perfect in form and conception,” the Sonata in G Major exhibits an uncharacteristically serene and calm mood across the 35-minute work’s four movements.  

Young-Ah Tak says that “His melodies and musical ideas unfolding so naturally and perfectly within a well-structured classical sonata form is inspirational. I believe Schubert's sonatas resonate with the human spirit - their beauty, joy, sadness, drama, and yearning. There is such an emotional depth reflected in this music. Mastering these two different but equally profound sonatas has been a magnificent journey for me.”