András Schiff - Schumann: In Concert (2002)

Robert Schumann's dense yet soaring keyboard textures, obsessive rhythmic repetitions, and restless polyphonic mind inspire András Schiff's poetic virtuosity to rarefied heights of music making in the Humoreske, the eight Novelletten, and the Sonata No. 3 (better known as the Concerto Without Orchestra). In the Sonata's outer movements, Schiff unleashes power with canny expressive economy, while the variations in the Andantino lusciously unfold. The Humoreske is riper and more complexly detailed here than in Schiff's relatively straightlaced 1976 Denon recording. Throughout the Novelletten, Schiff adapts a less massive, more clipped style compared with, say, Sviatoslav Richter's more objective readings of Nos. 1, 2, and 8. Yet Schiff's wide arsenal of articulations and hand balances helps keep Schumann's bottomless lyrical fount afloat over the bar lines. Schiff's stamina and concentration are all the more amazing when you consider that these three big pieces stem from a single concert held at the Tonhalle Zürich on May 30, 1999. The fourth piece, from Schumann's Op. 23 Nachstücke, makes for a touching encore. In sum, a very special release, and gorgeously recorded, too. -- Jed Distler