Customer Reviews

Schumann : Piano Sonata No. 1 / Fantasy in C ~ Andsnes

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

 

 

Why am I the first to review this stunning CD? Perhaps Andsnes is not well know in America. Then again, Americans are generally not aware of much outside their own country. This CD was awarded the Deutschen Schallplattenkritik prize, a prestigious german award, ano no wonder. Andsnes injects a warm stream of romance into both these large-scale works and he grabs your attention from the very first note, such is the quality of playing. The opening of the Fantasy in particular makes all others seem leaden fingered. However, the competition is fierce for the fantasy as a whole. Pollini, Fiorentino, Richter, Hough and Argerich to name a few, have all given us classic performances. But there can never be 6 people standing on the podium at the same time. So who's recording would we humans send off to an intergalactic piano competition of the Schumann fantasy? Would it be the youthful, refreshing Andsnes? The deep, grand reading by Fiorentino? No. We are humans, so we would cheat. I would take the 1st mov. of Andsnes, I don't know who's I'd pick for the 2nd, and the last would be played by Pollini. If you haven't heard these works performed before, then you can do much worse then buying this (although price-wise, Pollini is cheaper).

Without doubt the most famous Norwegian pianist of the past fifty years, if not more, Andsnes has become a huge favorite in England. In part this may be due to his restraint. Though endowed with cirtuosic technqiue, his playng tends to be light, fresh, and a bit reserved. He's the backup man to call when Perahia has the flu. Of the dozen of so recordings I've heard from Andsnes, I think I like this Schumann colleciton the best. The sprawling Schumann Sonata #1 can be exhausting to sit through (listen to Kissin's account on BMG), a pitfall Andsnes avoids by keeping the rhythms springy, the chords oncongested, and the couterpoint crystal clear. He's helped by EMI's very pleasing, lyrical piano sound.

As one of the previous reviewers notes, Andnes provides a gloriously lyrical opening to the Fantasy in C, but he runs into great performances from Pollini, Kissin, Richter, and Kempff, just to name some personal favorites. Even so, music can only be heard with one pair of ears, and this reading has all the virtues of the sonata. In sum, a winning recital.

My daughter and I saw Andsnes and Tetzlaff (sp?) In Perelman Hall in the new Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, PA (USA, where we are not all boors ) in January, 2002. His interpretation of the Schumann was spellbinding.
I wish they would re-release this disc so that it could be available at the venues where he plays live.

Leif Ove Andsnes' album "Schumann" is supremely satisfying as it is a felicitous mating of two of Schumann's greatest works for solo piano, the Sonata in F Sharp Minor, and the Fantasie, Op. 17, with a pianist who has the technique and the sensitivity to realize the composer's intentions flawlessly. It is rare, in my experience, to hear a pianist bring this music to life as Andsnes does. The Sonata, heard only infrequently, poses some formidable technical and interpretive challenges which completely disappear in the hands of this great interpreter. The Fantasie, one of my favorites for many decades, has not been played with any greater musical understanding or technical control. All of the lyricism and romantic fervor of the opening movement is present in this performance. And the middle movement, feared by most artists because of the devilish coda, is tossed off with elan and accuracy. The final movement achieves the profundity of Schumann's most expressive song. Of the half dozen or more recordings of this work I own, only the old LP recording of Jorg Demus approaches the level of this performance. I have only praise for this album and EMI's recorded sound.