I am never satisfied with the last movements of Schubert’s piano works, it seems. The D960 and D784 sonatas and the Grand Duo in C Major (D812) all end unsatisfactorily. They all have restless last movements that are quite at odds with the previous movements, which tend to be contemplative or (in the case of D784) stormy, rather than fidgety. In D960 especially it feels like Schubert is blowing off all the angst of the previous three movements. What does he mean by doing this? The only way to get on with life is to move on briskly and unthinkingly? That statement is very true, but with regards to musical meaning, I’m just throwing out an unsubstantiated theory.
If I had more time to listen, of course… Always that.
