BaL 29.03.25 - Schumann: Carnaval

[gurnemanz]

I've never heard the Rachmaninov recording, is it widely available?

I got the RCA 10CD His Complete Recordings box for about £20 a while ago. Still around second hand. Certainly worth getting even if background info on recordings is absent. Very thorough Musicweb review has this comment on Carnaval:

"Schumann’s "Carnaval", one of the very few large-scale solo works Rachmaninov was able to set down, is a famous recording but also a controversial one. I must say that, alongside the Schubert Impromptu it’s almost a model of fidelity! It’s true that Rachmaninov announces early on that he’s going to be his own man, when he plays the forte interjections in "Pierrot" staccato (they are marked legato), but it’s also true that I’ve never heard this usually rather doleful little piece sound so convincing and in any case this is imaginative music that cannot be played just literally. Rachmaninov’s flexible yet infectious rhythm carries him through in a performance that has tremendous overall sweep while finding time to characterize to the full every nook and cranny of the score. This is one of the great Schumann performances on record."

[Ein Heldenleben]

I got the RCA 10CD His Complete Recordings box for about £20 a while ago. Still around second hand. Certainly worth getting even if background info on recordings is absent. Very thorough Musicweb review has this comment on Carnaval:

"Schumann’s "Carnaval", one of the very few large-scale solo works Rachmaninov was able to set down, is a famous recording but also a controversial one. I must say that, alongside the Schubert Impromptu it’s almost a model of fidelity! It’s true that Rachmaninov announces early on that he’s going to be his own man, when he plays the forte interjections in "Pierrot" staccato (they are marked legato), but it’s also true that I’ve never heard this usually rather doleful little piece sound so convincing and in any case this is imaginative music that cannot be played just literally. Rachmaninov’s flexible yet infectious rhythm carries him through in a performance that has tremendous overall sweep while finding time to characterize to the full every nook and cranny of the score. This is one of the great Schumann performances on record."

Yes that’s a very good analysis . It’s not just the range of colours - beyond most pianists - it’s that rhythmic command that is the product of total finger control brought about by hour after hour of practice . No one ( even Richter) worked harder and sounded so effortless. Epic sweep is the phrase …

[smittims]

Everything I've read about Schumann suggests to me that he would have allowed interpreters much more freedom than today's critics do! Rachmaninov came from the same world of romantic sensibility. I imagine that Schumann,like Elgar , might have played his own music differently from occasion to occasion.

[gradus]

Everything I've read about Schumann suggests to me that he would have allowed interpreters much more freedom than today's critics do! Rachmaninov came from the same world of romantic sensibility. I imagine that Schumann,like Elgar , might have played his own music differently from occasion to occasion.

That strikes me as highly likely but I'm not so sure about Clara and their children who knew the right way and taught accordingly as, for example, Adelina de Lara describes in her biography.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Everything I've read about Schumann suggests to me that he would have allowed interpreters much more freedom than today's critics do! Rachmaninov came from the same world of romantic sensibility. I imagine that Schumann,like Elgar , might have played his own music differently from occasion to occasion.

And not just Schumann. In that Schubert A flat Impromptu mentioned above he plays the passionate c# minor central section with an extraordinarily powerful bass and an intensity I’ve never heard matched. It’s like a explosion in this otherwise “refined “ piece for gifted amateurs. Stephen Kovacevich once said from just three bars of this you can tell it’s one of the all time greats. No one dares play like that now.
That said I don’t like the Chopin Bflat Minor that much …

[Darloboy]

Previous BaL recommendations:

Jerrold Northrop Moore (Jan 96): Uchida
Harriet Smith (July 06): Hamelin + Rachmaninov as Budget and Historic Choice

[Barbirollians]

Hamelin ?

[Sir Velo]

Lucy Parham would do worse than consider Daniel Grimwood on an 1856 Erard

[gradus]

Lucy Parham would do worse than consider Daniel Grimwood on an 1856 Erard

Thanks for the link. The excerpts on the Presto site are very appealingly played and the piano sounds particularly well prepared. I hope LP includes the disc in her review.

[vinteuil]

Lucy Parham would do worse than consider Daniel Grimwood on an 1856 Erard

... thanks very much for flagging that up : I have found Daniel Grimwood to be revelatory in other recordings, so look forward to getting this one!

.

[Ein Heldenleben]

The freedom in that Rachmaninov clip just played is something else. Good BAL this . Every pianist is a master of the instrument - how on earth do you choose ?

[Ein Heldenleben]

Uchida is the final selection with Hess the vintage choice. Hess’s legato , cantabile playing is peerless.
But for sheer excitement Rachmaninov’s Paginnni will never be equalled. Days / weeks of practice with no editor sorting out finger trouble - we’re really not comparing like with like.

[Pulcinella]

Uchida is the final selection with Hess the vintage choice. Hess’s legato , cantabile playing is peerless.
But for sheer excitement Rachmaninov’s Paginnni will never be equalled. Days / weeks of practice with no editor sorting out finger trouble - we’re really not comparing like with like.

From the website:

Recommended recording:
Mitsuko Uchida
Philips 4758260

Added to original post, too.

[edashtav]

The freedom in that Rachmaninov clip just played is something else. Good BAL this . Every pianist is a master of the instrument - how on earth do you choose ?

Fair assessment.

[jch48]

I hugely enjoy Freddy Kempff's Schumann disc. I don't remember doing a great comparison exercise. i was looking for a version of the Humoreske so with the Toccata and Carnaval thrown in and most likely a recommendation somewhere that's what I have.
I like Annie Fischer's Mozart concertos, Kinderszenen, Kreisleriana and Beethoven and her characterisation of the strands in the excerpt played was amazing so I will put other recordings of hers on my list to explore.
Myra Hess is often highly spoked of in RR so I'd love to listen to more of her recordings.