Most of Schubert’s twelve fragmentary piano sonatas, of which four are included on this recording, come from the period between 1817 and 1823, Schubert’s so-called years of crisis. They are among his most daring and puzzling works surviving, as it were, as experiments in composition, pushing thematic material to its limits within the traditional sonata form, and as a preparation for his symphonies. Often intensely emotional in character, they anticipate the expressive world of Beethoven, Liszt and Chopin.