Schumann Piano Works
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Robert Schumann
Label: Classics
Magazine Review Date: 11/1989
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 790770-4
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Davidsbündlertänze |
Robert Schumann, Composer
Robert Schumann, Composer Stephen Hough, Piano |
| Album für die Jugend, Movement: Lento e con espressione |
Robert Schumann, Composer
Robert Schumann, Composer Stephen Hough, Piano |
| Album für die Jugend, Movement: Moderato con grazia |
Robert Schumann, Composer
Robert Schumann, Composer Stephen Hough, Piano |
| Album für die Jugend, Movement: Molto lento |
Robert Schumann, Composer
Robert Schumann, Composer Stephen Hough, Piano |
| Fantasie |
Robert Schumann, Composer
Robert Schumann, Composer Stephen Hough, Piano |
Composer or Director: Robert Schumann
Label: Classics
Magazine Review Date: 11/1989
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 73
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 790770-2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Davidsbündlertänze |
Robert Schumann, Composer
Robert Schumann, Composer Stephen Hough, Piano |
| Album für die Jugend, Movement: Lento e con espressione |
Robert Schumann, Composer
Robert Schumann, Composer Stephen Hough, Piano |
| Album für die Jugend, Movement: Moderato con grazia |
Robert Schumann, Composer
Robert Schumann, Composer Stephen Hough, Piano |
| Album für die Jugend, Movement: Molto lento |
Robert Schumann, Composer
Robert Schumann, Composer Stephen Hough, Piano |
| Fantasie |
Robert Schumann, Composer
Robert Schumann, Composer Stephen Hough, Piano |
Author: Joan Chissell
The 'onlie begetter' of both the Davidsbundlertanze and the Fantasie, of course, was Schumann's beloved Clara. But whereas the Fantasie is one of the most personally and intimately committed love poems ever written for the piano, in the Davidsbundlertanze he combines the mirth of a Polterabend (the wedding eve in German folk-lore when mischievous sprites play practical jokes on the bride) with deeper undercurrents of feeling.
Of the two, I particularly enjoyed Stephen Hough's piquantly contrasted characterization of the Davidsbundlertanze which, incidentally, he plays in Schumann's first edition. The 'humour' of Nos. 3, 12 and 16 could be guessed even if that word hadn't been used in the headings, equally the 'impatience' of No. 4. I also thought Hough deeply poetic in the nostalgia of No. 2, and still more in No. 17, headed 'as if from afar', in which the ache of No. 2 in so movingly recalled. In the last piece his slower tempo (4'04'') and ethereal tone make it even more of a dream than from Perahia (CBS 3'24''). But in certain contexts I sometimes wondered if Hough's rubato was inclined to draw rather too much attention to itself, most notably in Nos. 5 and 11, both markedeinfach. In these, it is Perahia who understands the true eloquence of simplicity. Curiously, however Hough ignores Schumann's own ritenuto in the work's closing bars—which makes his ending a little too throw-away. The recording itself is the better for not being as close as Perahia's, even if it is a shade less ripe in tone.
In the Fantasie Hough makes every note his own; it is a deeply experienced reading, full of intimately inflected detail. But his frequent yieldings in the first movement—extending it to 13'34R as against the 12'19'', 12'09'' and 12'07'' of Perahia (CBS), Brendel (Philips) and Pollini (DG) respectively—sometimes lay Schumann open to the charge of episodic meandering. In point of fact this is one of the most tautly logical sonata-form arguments he ever wrote, as Pollini makes so clear while at the same time extracting an even greater intensity from its fervour. As at the climax of the Im Legendenton section in the first movement, so again at the final return of the big march tune in the second movement Hough, for all his love of rubato, ignores Schumann's ownritenuto. But nothing testifies to his magnificent technique more than the dare-devil molto piu mosso he risks in this movement's coda. Like Perahia and Brendel he favours a slightly faster tempo for the finale than Pollini. But while all three play it extremely beautifully, it is only Pollini who for me combines its quivering personal emotion with an almost other-worldly, visionary calm. Hough himself is a little too given to impulsive surges, not least in the bigger chordal climaxes of its second (etwas bewegter) theme.
As a bonus this well-produced disc also includes the three reflective miniatures from the Album fur die Jugend mysteriously marked only with asterisks. Here Hough's acutely sensitive, introspective approach leaves no doubt that whatever their hidden secrets, all three came straight from the composer's heart.'
Of the two, I particularly enjoyed Stephen Hough's piquantly contrasted characterization of the Davidsbundlertanze which, incidentally, he plays in Schumann's first edition. The 'humour' of Nos. 3, 12 and 16 could be guessed even if that word hadn't been used in the headings, equally the 'impatience' of No. 4. I also thought Hough deeply poetic in the nostalgia of No. 2, and still more in No. 17, headed 'as if from afar', in which the ache of No. 2 in so movingly recalled. In the last piece his slower tempo (4'04'') and ethereal tone make it even more of a dream than from Perahia (CBS 3'24''). But in certain contexts I sometimes wondered if Hough's rubato was inclined to draw rather too much attention to itself, most notably in Nos. 5 and 11, both marked
In the Fantasie Hough makes every note his own; it is a deeply experienced reading, full of intimately inflected detail. But his frequent yieldings in the first movement—extending it to 13'34R as against the 12'19'', 12'09'' and 12'07'' of Perahia (CBS), Brendel (Philips) and Pollini (DG) respectively—sometimes lay Schumann open to the charge of episodic meandering. In point of fact this is one of the most tautly logical sonata-form arguments he ever wrote, as Pollini makes so clear while at the same time extracting an even greater intensity from its fervour. As at the climax of the Im Legendenton section in the first movement, so again at the final return of the big march tune in the second movement Hough, for all his love of rubato, ignores Schumann's own
As a bonus this well-produced disc also includes the three reflective miniatures from the Album fur die Jugend mysteriously marked only with asterisks. Here Hough's acutely sensitive, introspective approach leaves no doubt that whatever their hidden secrets, all three came straight from the composer's heart.'
Schumann Piano Works
Schumann Piano Works
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