Customer Reviews

Schumann: Davidsbundlertanze, Concert sans orchestre

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Maurizio Pollini's latest recordings have proved consistently engaging and never lacking in insight or drive - but none are classics in there own right. The Ballades, with the F Minor aside, are impressive without being remarkable, whilst the Debussy Preludes are, again, interesting but lacking in colouristic diversity. This disc, however, is entirely different. The Davidsbundlertanze, written at a time of great emotional torture for the composer, are carried off with ferocious impetuosity and momentum - never is the tension allowed to drop in the fast and furious 'Florestan' tanze. The more quiet moments, such as the penultimate piece, are whistful, elegaic but chillingly mournful, expressing a solitude of icy cold intensity. As ever, this recording is a paragon of performance structure - the architecture is, as far as I can tell, near perfection - he rounds off the cycle with the supremely judged, slightly melancholic finale. The Concerto sans orchestre, although a work of inferior stature to the wonderful Davidsbundler, is no less fascinating in this rendition; as before, the rapid tempi create an endless striving feel and one can often hear Pollini gasping for help amidst the flurries of notes. The final episode of the middle movement is particularly affecting, whilst the last piece carries one away with the awesome muscularity of his playing. This is one of the finest Schumann discs of recent years and ranks with Gieseking and Cortot as classic Davidsbundlertanze. Although the cd is pricey and the running time slightly short, it is definitely worth the expense. A must.

Although I consider myself a fan of Pollini, I don't like all his recordings equally. For example, I feel that some of his Chopin lacks some lyricism, his Liszt sonata did not convince me, and there are more examples in his vast catalogue. But on the other hand, there are so many other recordings to enjoy: Beethoven's Beethoven: Diabelli Variations, many sonatas, his Chopin: Etudes, his Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Webern, etc / Maurizio Pollini (WOW is the word that comes to mind) to name just a few.

But for some reason I especially love his Schumann recordings, the Piano Concerto and symphonic etudes, the Schumann fantasy (which is truly fantastic) to name a few. Pollini's qualities (virtuosity, sense of muscial architecture) seem to work especially well with Schumann.

For some reason utterly unknown to myself I only just recently purchased this cd. The only regret I have I didn't buy it sooner! You can hear (sometimes literally) him enjoy playing these wonderful, fantastic pieces, which seem to be very close to his muscial heart. The necessary virtuosity is (as usual with Pollini) a simple given, so let's not spoil words on that.

Well, you have read my review, so no more excuses that you didn't know this cd existed.

Highly recommended. Enjoy.

After a long hiatus, Pollini's return to Schumann offers the familiar Davidsbundlertänze and the much less heard first edition of the third piano sonata. It is, in general, a success, but I wouldn't rate it among Pollini's greatest recordings. The Davidsbundlertänze should ideally contain a little more humor and a few more smiles in certain of the movements, and certain of them (no.2, in particular) are almost a little tart. Of course, the work is characterized by its diversity of moods and atmospheres, and it is perhaps too much to ask - even of Pollini - that the performer should be equally convincing in all of them. And there are certainly many very good things here. The overall virtues are clarity of projection, attention to detail and superb control of dynamic swings and changes. Among the particular virtues are the absolute mastery of the technically very challenging sixth movement, the utterly gorgeous, reflective seventeenth movement, as well as the pulling together of strings in the final movement.

As for the sonata, the outer movements are scintillating. Not only is the clarity of projection and attention to detail superb here as well; Pollini's ability to shape the music into coherent, single arguments is truly admirable and second to none. The middle movement is lovingly done as well, but tends at times to become a little unfocused (but perhaps only because I cannot help comparing it to the marvelously focused outer movements). The sound is generally good, although a little close, but the auditory experience is stymied by extraneous noises from the performer himself. Still, this is a very fine release and certainly a must for Pollini fans, and to be honest I realize that I may be a little mean when I subtract one star, mostly for those extraneous sounds, given the masterly performance of the outer movements of the sonata.

After a 16 year drought Pollini returns to his favorite composer - Schumann.He plays the most romantic pieces ever written for the piano, pieces which have been written during Schumann's most passionate period - his endless love to Clara.
These pieces reflect love,humor,passion,drama and Pollini's musical story-telling brings out the true colors of the music - pure romance!
Listen to the Davidsbundlertanze no.13 and you'll hear the passion bursting out, in no.18 (the last) you'll hear the beatiful poetry of love.The Concert sans orchestre is played beatifully and dramaticly.There is one drawback,the recorded sound,which has a closed, airless presence.
Pollini reminds you of the stature and greatness of this music, and that sets the seal on any recommendation.
There is another Pollini-Schumann recording planned to be released next year (including the Kreisleriana) - and I can't wait!

Robert Schumann wrote the works recorded here between 1836 and 1838, inspired in their composition by his passionate love for his future wife Clara Wieck. The Davidsbundlertanze of 1837 was written to reflect the manifesto of the Band of David, an imaginary brotherhood that Schumann invented to combat what he saw as the shallowness of German music. The work was dedicated to Goethe's grandson by the composer through two of his fictitious brotherhood members Florestan and Eusebius. Schumann carried this "authorship" down to the character of the dances so Floretan's music tends to be louder (numbers 3,4,6,10 and 12) than the more lyrical songs of Eusebius (2, 5, 7, 11 and 14). The Davidsbundlertanze were later revised

Schumann's F minor sonata exists in two versions: one in five movements and one in three movements (recorded here) that was named Concert sans orchestre but its published Tobias Haslinger. Schumann agreed to the publication title and removed the two scherzos and dedicated the work to Moscheles. The Sonata was later revised to include one of the scherzos in 1853 and Brahms restored the second after Schumann's death. This recording uses the first versions of both works which explains why the Scherzos are absent from the Sonata.

The recording by Maurizio Pollini is excellent and he contrasts the differing moods of the Davidsbundlertanze superbly. The Concert san orchestre is masterfully played beautifully bringing out the passion of the Allegro brilliante; the Andantino (four variations on a funeral march melody by Clara) is played with great tenderness and expression, and the restless final movement Pollini is brilliant .

The sound recording is excellent and the only problem with the disc is that at 52:02 it is far too short.

This record gives the opportunity of know the masterful piano sonata op. 14 in his first printed version. Some reviewer has write that Pollini cuts out the two scherzos of the sonata, but it is no correct; Schumann proposed to his editor the sonata in five times, but accepted the publications of the piece in three times. So, we can ear here a more romantic version of the piece (in the first time you can specially note more dissonant chords, that in the final version sounds more classical). The tonality of the three times (always F minor)creates a singolar effect (generally, romantic sonatas contain a lirical slow time in major tonality in opposition to minor of the fast time). The execution of Davidsbundlertanze is a little bit less interesting, but it is anyway an execution of a great master of the keyboard.

This is the first of Pollini's more recent recordings I just had to have when I saw it. It actually does contain close to an hour's worth of music, which given his last few offerings is generous. But I'll take quality rather than quantity almost any day.

It would be an understatement to say that Schumann struggled with the classical sonata form; he grappled with it, and ultimately discarded it altogether. Marc-Andre Hamelin has recently added a superlative account of the Op. 22 sonata. Pollini's traverse through the Op. 11 nearly thirty years ago remains unchallenged. The third sonata Op. 14 has had few worthy champions apart from Horowitz (whose recording of the work presents its own unique set of problems, the very least of which is Horowitz himself).

Pollini helps make a strong case for the work by taking it back to its original form. Schumann later revised the work, adding two scherzos, in part to placate his publisher and conform to the standard of the day. The result is something of a monstrosity piece. Although Horowitz performed the later version he omitted one scherzo. Pollini's original is much more direct, concise and convincing. Diehards will own both versions anyway and I must confess my love of both.

Pollini has gone back to Schumann's original thoughts on more than one occasion; his reading of the Etudes Symphoniques, Op.13 gives us the first edition of that work and its posthumous additions. In the present recording he offers us another "first" by coupling his winning performance of the sonata along with the original 1837 version of the Davidsbundlertanze. Rather than displacing other fine performances he has enriched the catalogue of Schumann in recorded performance and secured a place in history as one the elusive composer's great interpreters.

Recorded sound is somewhat confined although richer and warmer than earlier DG recordings by this artist. Pollini is either vocalizing more or the engineers are doing a better job capturing it. Perhaps the frenetic nervous energy of Schumann brings it out.

A must for all Schumann and/or Pollini aficianados.

Schumann: Davidsbundlertanze, Concert sans orchestre

Few recordings of this music do exist : Schumann himself reviewed this music very deeply, 15 years after its first edition.

In 1834, the author's friendship gathered as the "companions of David", were fighting against such Philistines as Rossini, Meyerbeer, Czerny, Pleyel and Thalberg. Still an open fight today.

Pollini's recording was made in june 2000 : who else than him might have been together Florestan the intrepid warrior and Eusebius the poet ?

While Pollini's recording of Schumann Third Sonata (also known as the "Concerto without Orchestra") is definitely serviceable and technically up to snuff, it is far from the last word on this neglected work. There are numerous problems with the musical decisions Pollini has made here. First, Pollini plays from a faulty edition of the score which smoothes out many of Schumann's obsessive dotted rhythms (I detect Clara Schumann's interfering hands here). Second, Pollini eliminates BOTH Scherzo movements. The result of this ill-advised decision is that the listener is left with three consecutive movements in F minor, a result that Schumann, who understood the need for contrast, would NEVER have approved. To hear the work in all its spendor, try Horowitz's version on Phillips' Great Pianists of the Century series (don't buy the RCA "Horowitz plays Schumann" CD, it's a hodgepodge of outtakes.)

The Davidsbundlertanze fares better but you're still better off with Kempff on DG or Perahia on Sony.