Impromptus (Schubert)

The third Impromptu is a flowing and meditative piece in G♭ major, characterized by long melodic lines and unbroken triadic accompaniment.

The fourth and final Impromptu, in A♭ major, starts in A♭ minor and is characterized by cascading arpeggios and a chordal response.

Due to their structural and thematic links, some envisioned the four Impromptus as parts of a multi-movement sonata, a conjecture which is subject of debate among musicologists and scholars.

[5] In comparison with the D. 899 and D. 935 sets, these works are largely neglected and are not often heard in the concert hall or recorded.

[6] Pianists who have recorded the pieces include Imogen Cooper on Ottavo and Avie; Noël Lee on Disques Valois; András Schiff on Decca; Claudio Arrau, Alfred Brendel, and Mitsuko Uchida on Philips; Wilhelm Kempff, Maria João Pires, Maurizio Pollini, and Grigory Sokolov on Deutsche Grammophon; Steven Osborne on Hyperion; Sviatoslav Richter on Melodiya; Yulianna Avdeeva on Mirare; Michael Endres on Oehms Classics and Eliso Virsaladze on Live Classics.

Peter Katin, András Schiff and Jos Van Immerseel have recorded them on period (early-nineteenth-century) instruments.

This impromptu is also the basis for Patrick Gower's score to the 1982 Alec Guinness miniseries Smiley's People.

The song Questions on the 1976 album The Roaring Silence by progressive rock group Manfred Mann's Earth Band is based on the main theme of Schubert's Impromptu in G♭ major.

3 by Michael Nyman is played in a concert by a genetically "enhanced" pianist with twelve fingers.

), and is hiding his condition so as not to be discriminated against, is astonished that someone could be accepted and admired despite being outside the norm and says, "Twelve fingers or one, it's how you play."

2 in E♭ major was performed in its entirety by Françoise Rosay in a segment of the 1948 anthology film Quartet starring Dirk Bogarde and Honor Blackman.

In Howard Jacobson's 2010 Man Booker Prize winning novel The Finkler Question, Impromptu Opus 90 No.3 is referred to as having been played by the character Libor's dead wife Malkie.

The pieces, played by Alexandre Tharaud, were released in a soundtrack album by EMI Classics.