Pletnev Plays Schumann

Robert Schumann (Composer), Mikhail Pletnev (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Mikhail Pletnev
• Composer: Robert Schumann
• Audio CD (March 9, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon
• ASIN: B0001BUC0Q
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #361,842 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Romantic Music in the Hands of a Romantic Musician, August 17, 2006

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Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pletnev Plays Schumann (Audio CD)

Few pianists playing and recording these days polarize audiences the way Mikhail Pletnev does. The reasons for not appreciating his approach to Schumann, in this case, are solid academic arguments, and from some of the reviews here written there is much to learn about pianism in general.

This listener falls into the admiring category. Knowing that the Romantic pianists and composers played from the heart at times more so than the mind, Pletnev seems to fit into the heady team of the salon gatherings from the time of Schumann. His liberties taken with ritards and rubatos, with phrasing and with tempi, may sound indulgent to some, but to this listener Pletnev plays with complete charm and candor and heart on the sleeve approach without neglecting his extraordinarily impeccable musicianship and intelligence. One can nearly hear the salon ladies swoon and faint and that makes for exciting listening - if this superb recording is approached in the Romantic mindset.

Pletnev surveys the 'Symphonic Etudes', Op. 13, the Fantasie in C major, Op. 17, the much loved 'Album (Colored) Leaves', Op. 99, and the elegant 'Arabeske in C major, Op. 18. His technique is light, airy, supple, sure, and spontaneous in approach - and for this listener that is enough! Grady Harp, August 06

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pletnev is divisive, but his Schumann is full of spontaneous insight, November 4, 2010

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Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pletnev Plays Schumann (Audio CD)

In his role as a divider, not a uniter, Pletnev has raised a few hackles here with his Schumann CD, recorded over a three day period in 2003. The romantic style of Russian piano playing became preserved in amber during the soviet period, and today, unleashed upon the world, it reminds us of a performance style that can be, as critics allege, self-indulgent and even egotistical. For myself, there is enough liberty in Schumann's music to allow a wide range of personal interpretation. Pletnev doesn't exceed the limits set by, say, Horowitz and Richter. He takes more liberties than Kissin did in his 1990 Carnegie Hall debut, which featured the Symphonic etudes--Kissin swashbuckled through to exciting effect, but his interpretation feels a bit too straightforward on second listen. Pollini is commanding in a way that Pletnev doesn't aim for. He is reproducing the style of Romantic reveries that gives the impression of improvising at the keyboard, not sending chills through an audience hanging on to every note of a virtuoso.

the same approach pertains to the Fantasy in C, allowing us to feel only infrequently carried away by his technique. If you want either work done at a steady tempo with extrovert energy, seek elsewhere. With Pletnev it's always a balancing act between exasperation at his quirks and admiration for his artistic flashes, yet moment by moment I am far more engaged than I would be by, say, Perahia or even the admirable young pianist Jonathan Biss. I like their way with Schumann, too -- we are lucky to have so much choice -- yet Pletnev stakes out a special place, the long lead review that denigrates Pletnev's style has described what is going on very well, but my reaction is to be pleasantly intrigued rather than put off.

As a technical matter, the order and choice of the Symphonic Etudes has always been an open question. Kissin and most other modern interpreters sprinkle in the five variations composed in 1834 but later excised by Schumann; they were published on in 1873. Pletnev inserts Var. 1 and 5 from these additions after the printed Var. 7, while omitting Var. 8. It's an idiosyncratic choice but hardly outrageous. DG's sound is exceptionally good, very close up but never bangy, and the instrument itself is gorgeous.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The perfect Schumann, September 20, 2004

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Roy U. Rojas Wahl (Teaneck, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pletnev Plays Schumann (Audio CD)

I don't know what some of the others reviewer's problems are. This is a most wonderful recording of music by the arch-romanticist. Seldomly have I heard a living (i.e. contemporary) pianist put so much of weight and colors in an interpretation of classical romantic repertoire (only exception: Mustonen in his Beethoven!).

Pletnev makes each note count, he phrases spaciously and lets the pieces breathe. Ahhh, Schumann, was my first reaction. Ahhh, Schumann, is to this very day my last reaction.

Highly recommended.