Search - Robert Schumann, Alfred Brendel :: Schumann: Fantasy in C minor, Op. 17; Symphonic Studies, Op. 13

Very subdued Schumann playing -- is it poetry or Prozac?

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 05/20/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"My copy of this Schumann CD is a download that lacks recording data, but a commenter informs me that these performances are from Vienna, 1966. Brendel's Schumann tends to be controversial. He is painstaking, understated, calm, and poised. The overall effect, to my ears, is of an aristocrat playing Schumann on Prozac. The tempestuous alter ego of the composer, whom he called Florstan, is never let out of the box.



So on the surface these two readings can be dismissed as way off the mark. But I must admit that if I forget all my preconceptions, Brendel's assured touch and lyrical phrasing say something to me. This is more like a meditation on Schumann than Schumann himself, but maybe there's room for such an approach. Whether you take to this album or not, I thought it worthwhile to point out how unusual it is and what mixed feelings it arouses."