Alan Marks plays Schubert
11 ½ piano sonatas

Although Franz Schubert began work on twenty-two piano sonatas, he only completed eleven, three of which were published during his lifetime (D. 845, 850, 894). Six of the unfinished sonatas are missing one movement; Three others contain only a fragmented first. In 1843 a publisher took five unrelated movements and incorporated them into what was called a "sonata" as well (E major, D.459). This concert cycle contains Schubert’s eleven completed sonatas and the two completed movements from the "Reliquie" Sonata torso (D. 840). These pieces were chosen for their unquestionably superior quality.

Alan Marks was born in Chicago and grew up in St. Louis. He studied at the Juilliard School under Irwin Freundlich. In the years after his studies he appeared as soloist with orchestras in New York, Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Mexico City. Alan Marks moved to Berlin in 1981 where his solo career extended through West and East Europe, Israel and Japan. He was a full professor of piano at the Hochschule fur Musik "Hanns Eisler" in Berlin from October 1992 until his death on July 12th 1995.