This is Semaphore’s fourth release in the Sarah Beth Briggs Plays... series. The release commemorates the 25th anniversary of the death of the great pianist and musicologist, Denis Matthews who was Sarah’s long‑standing teacher. The choice of Schubert’s Piano Sonata D960 seems particularly appropriate for a disc in his memory (the one piece of solo piano music that he selected when he appeared on Desert Island Discs in 1967). The coupling is with Mozart’s C minor Fantasy and Beethoven’s Pathétique Sonata. Insightful sleeve notes confirm the originality of Sarah’s reading of the scores, typified by her decision not to include a repeat in the first movement of the Pathétique.

The recording was made on a Steinway at Potton Hall, Suffolk. The producer and sound engineer was Simon Fox-Gál, whose recordings have included releases on EMI/Virgin Classics, Erato, Warner, Sony Music, Pan Classics, Avie, Naxos and BMG/RCA.

Internationally renowned Schubert scholar, Brian Newbould, commenting on the pre-release of this recording of Schubert D960, said: “Good tempi, marvellous sound whether in passionate or reflective passages....quite simply a pleasure to listen to.”

York-based Sarah Beth Briggs was for many years the youngest BBC Young Musician of the Year finalist at 11 and one of the youngest recipients of a Myra Hess award at the same age. She was joint winner of the International Mozart Competition in Salzburg at the age of 15. A long‑standing pupil of Denis Matthews, she also studied in Switzerland with renowned Arrau student, Edith Fischer and, through a Hindemith Foundation chamber scholarship, Bruno Giuranna. Her solo career has taken her to Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Italy and the USA, and she has worked with orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic, Hallé, London Mozart Players, London Philharmonic, English Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC Concert Orchestra, and Northern Sinfonia. As a chamber musician, she has worked with many acclaimed soloists, in addition to giving concerts with her three regular trios which combine piano with wind and strings from some of the country’s leading solo and orchestral musicians.

Recording for independent label Semaphore allows Sarah complete freedom over repertoire selection. Her first three releases have included a variety of works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin and Bartok as well as twentieth century English music by Rawsthorne and Britten (the latter – his Three Character Pieces, which Sarah world premiered).

"These are performances of real stature, the pianism is first-rate, as is the recording quality and the instrument itself (Potton Hall’s Steinway). You can find more brooding and more introspective accounts of these works, but in all other ways – particularly for clarity of execution, articulation, tone and pedalling – these performances are hard to fault." - International Record Review

"Throughout, Briggs's performances are as natural as they are concentrated... Finely recorded, this is a notable tribute to three cornerstones of the classical Viennese repertoire." Bryce Morrison, Gramophone