"Franz Schubert's Piano Sonata in a minor op. post. 164, presented here in an Urtext edition, numbers among his early sonatas written between 1815 and 1819. In many of these pieces, Schubert still struggles with form the Sonata in a minor from March 1817, however, is already wonderfully accomplished. In contrast to Schubert's two later a-minor piano sonatas, the key here does not yet result in a tragic, fatalistic sound. This is also due to the fact that he took every opportunity to brighten the key to the major, or to swerve into neighbouring, friendlier harmonic regions."