COMPOSERS: Schumann
LABELS: EMI
WORKS: Davidsbündlertänze; Études symphoniques; Kinderszenen
PERFORMER: Rudolf Firkusny (piano)
CATALOGUE NO: CDM 5 66068 2 ADD mono/ stereo (1955/59)
Firkusny died in 1994 after nearly seventy years before the public, and by any accounting he was a considerable pianist, refined and unaffected – best, many think, when unhampered by an orchestra. I find his performance of the Davidsbündlertänze disturbingly self-indulgent, with too much rubato, scant attention to dynamics and some over-slow tempi. The rest of the programme is altogether more apt, the Symphonic Studies well-pitched and full of variety, the Kinderszenen mostly conveying a mood of appropriate innocence. Wadham Sutton
Schumann: Davidsbündlertänze; Études symphoniques; Kinderszenen
Firkusny died in 1994 after nearly seventy years before the public, and by any accounting he was a considerable pianist, refined and unaffected – best, many think, when unhampered by an orchestra. I find his performance of the Davidsbündlertänze disturbingly self-indulgent, with too much rubato, scant attention to dynamics and some over-slow tempi. The rest of the programme is altogether more apt, the Symphonic Studies well-pitched and full of variety, the Kinderszenen mostly conveying a mood of appropriate innocence. Wadham Sutton
Our rating
2
Published: January 20, 2012 at 1:23 pm