Search - Robert Schumann, Radu Lupu :: Robert Schumann: Radu Lupu - Kinderszenen/Kreisleriana/Humoreske

Beautiful Playing, but Bad Recording

Lee M. Mcguire | Urbana, IL | 12/06/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I won't say much, because I'd just be echoing the favorable comments of the others. Just say that this is great playing and I have not heard a finer version of Kreisleriana or a more electrifying Humoreske, whose restrained energy was a suprise to me. The Kinderszenen was beautiful as well, played at a quicker whimsical pace, not as slow and maudlin as some recordings of this I've heard. Lupu coaxes a one of a kind tone from the piano. Robust, full, but never harsh or banging. This man has strong fingers. My only beef is that the recording levels are set way way too low! And the microphones sound like the piano is recorded in a tile bathroom, way too much reverb. Besides these difficulties, Lupu's playing, to his credit, shines through. A worthwhile purchase, a great contrast to Horowitz and Argerich."

The best Kreisleriana so far...

Hiram Gomez Pardo | 12/04/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I can't say much about the Humoreske since I don't know the piece so well, but Kinderszenen is played gorgeously, with a simple beauty that recalls Horowitz's late interpretation of this piece. Lupu's Kreisleriana is by far the best recording of this work so far. But I still have a few reservations about it. His delivery of the triplets in the first movement is rather odd, but I could see how it is a response to Schumann's phrase markings. I could imagine the coda of the third movement being even more explosive (especially the big low Neapolitan chord which Horowitz played like an explosion in his DG recording). But Lupu plays the slow movements well, even if he ignores Schumann's dynamics for the main theme of the second movement (no one seems to follow Schumann in this spot!). Unfortunately, Lupu also misses a note in the seventh movement (the octave C's in the left hand don't sound quite like an octave) -- which is unfortunate since this missed note is right on the climax of the movement! Also, the final climax of the last movement (hammered out octaves in both hands right at the end of the D minor section) is completely tappered out in a decrescendo when Schumann's dynamics indicate intensification! But despite these nagging faults, I love this Kreisleriana, even more that the excellent recordings by Perahia and Horowitz."

When the imagination is on the good taste' s service !

Hiram Gomez Pardo | Valencia, Venezuela | 07/11/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Radu Lupu (1942) is unquestionably, one of the most prestigious pianists of the world. He possesses artistic integrity, genuine sound, and above all that pristine tune, product of a fevered outcome of talent, imagination, eloquence, aristocratic nuance and personality.



There's no a single work he had produced lacking of all these epithets, that's why you can be sure at the moment acquire any of his records.



These Schumann`s works had not been played with such lofty lyricism since Wilhelm Kempff and Ivan Moravec. That's the level of such recording.



Don't miss any recording of this extraordinary artist, honest musician, a superior soloist in an instrument where a good part of them are superfluous.



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