Search - Schumann, Shelley :: Carnaval / Kinderszenen

Romantic Schumann

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 12/23/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Howard Shelley is an underappreciated English pianist who is particularly noted for his interpretations of piano literature from the Romantic era, although he has recorded such disparate composers as Hummel and Szymanowski, not to mention such 20th-century British composers as Bridge, Tippett and Rubbra. However, it is for his Rachmaninoff that he is best known and one cannot go wrong with any of his many discs of that composer's music. This disc is, as far as I know, the only one devoted to music of Robert Schumann. It includes the two beloved sets of miniatures, 'Carnaval' and 'Kinderszenen,' and concludes with the Toccata in C, Op. 7.



'Carnaval' is an imaginative series of a 21 piano sketches depicting characters at a masked ball. Each brief piece descriptively represents the personality of various of Schumann's acquaintances. The two sides of Schumann's own personality, the masculine 'Florestan' and the dreamy, feminine 'Eusebius' are also in evidence. Shelley is quite at home with the highly emotional, yet highly contrapuntal, character sketches and is particularly good in 'Estrella' (a portrait of Schumann's lady-love of the moment) and in 'Pantalon and Columbine.' He handles the tricky repeated note figures in 'Reconnaisance' well, and his 'Chopin' swoons suitably. But it is in the final piece, the 'March of the Davidsbündler against the Philistines' where he really shines. Schumann's solely imaginary band of friends (the 'Davidsbündler') stalwartly thwart the musical Philistines and the set comes to a thrilling conclusion.



'Kinderszenen' ('Scenes of Childhood') is probably best known for No. 7, 'Träumerei,' which every aspiring piano student learns. Wait till you hear how absolutely beautifully Shelley plays it. It is the mark of an artist when a piece as simple as this can sound as lovely and profound as he makes it. Most of the separate pieces of the set of thirteen Scenes have been excerpted as encores or recital pieces, but it is when the whole set is played complete that the innocent and exciting world of childhood is evoked in all its variety. Although the pieces are not generally related one to the other, they add up to something special. Still, one can single out such wonderful performances here, beside the 'Träumerei,' of such favorites as 'From Strange Lands and People,' 'Pleading Child,' 'Hobby Horse Knight,' and 'The Poet Speaks.' This is a singularly musical and deeply felt 'Kinderszenen.'



Unfortunately, the quality falls off a bit with the Toccata, that early display piece of Schumann's that makes some players come a-cropper. That is not the case here. Indeed, Shelley plays it very well. It's just that his interpretation is too gentle, too legato, too civilized, and too slow ( at 7:06, more than two minutes slower than Horowitz!). My own feeling, and apparently that of such artists as different as Horowitz and Richter, is that it is a raw and powerful piece, to be played with power and edge. That is missing here. I suppose Shelley's take is acceptable in some sense, but it does not excite me like that of others. Otherwise, though, this is a superior disc by a superb artist.



Scott Morrison"