Robert Schumann - Piano Sonata No. 2; Waldszenen; Gesänge der Frühe (Mitsuko Uchida)

Information

Composer: Robert Schumann

• Waldszenen, Op. 82
• Piano Sonata No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22
• Gesänge der Frühe, Op. 133
• Im Herbste

Mitsuko Uchida, piano

Date: 2013

Label: Decca

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Review

Uchida and Schumann are a wonderful match: she conveys his febrile qualities with such naturalness, as was vividly demonstrated in her previous disc, of Davidsbündlertänze and the C major Fantasie (12/10). What’s striking about this new one, which is if anything even finer, is how shockingly modern she makes Schumann sound. You might think that you know Waldszenen; you might think that it’s one of Schumann’s cosier creations. Think again: this is hyper-reactive but always at the service of the music. Never has its emotional world sounded quite so conflicted. But there’s much beauty, too: ‘Einsame Blumen’ is a miracle of colour and nuance, while the sequence of chords towards the end of ‘Abschied’ is utterly magical. While Pires dreams and Volodos beguiles with sheer beauty of sound, Uchida brings to the fore the uneasier aspects of this work.

The Second Sonata then arrives, hurled down like a gauntlet. Any notion that Schumann’s sonatas aren’t up to the standard of his other solo piano music is scotched once and for all. It passes by at white heat – just as it does when she plays it in the concert hall; yet what makes this such a gripping performance is the contrast between the manic writing and the inwardness. The colours in the Andantino…well, they have to be heard rather than described.

But there’s more. She finishes with the extraordinary late Gesänge der Frühe. Anderszewski made a very strong case for these undersung pieces a couple of years back. He is generally faster than Uchida, who wrings every ounce of emotion from these fundamentally austere pieces. The first is cushioned in the most beautiful sound, in contrast to the second, where she unflinchingly lays bare the torture of composition itself; in the penultimate piece, Anderszewski has a greater, trickling ease, Uchida is more considered, more pained. Both pianists in their different ways utterly put these wondrous works on the map.

This is such thoughtful and thought-provoking playing. Uchida at her best, in other words, which is quite something.

— Harriet Smith

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Robert Schumann (8 June 1810 – 29 July 1856) was a German composer and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era, and left an array of acclaimed music in virtually all the forms then known. Schumann's published compositions were written exclusively for the piano until 1840; he later composed works for piano and orchestra; many Lieder (songs for voice and piano); four symphonies; an opera; and other orchestral, choral, and chamber works. Schumann suffered from a lifelong mental disorder, and died in 1856 without having recovered from his illness.

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Mitsuko Uchida (born 20 December 1948) is a Japanese-English pianist and conductor. Born in Atami, she moved to Vienna at age 12 and studied under distinguished teachers including Richard Hauser and Maria Curcio. Renowned for her interpretations of Mozart, Schubert, Schumann and Beethoven, as well as modern composers such as Berg, Schoenberg, Webern and Kurtág, Uchida has collaborated with leading orchestras worldwide, including the Berlin Philharmonic and The Cleveland Orchestra. Recording exclusively for Decca, she has received multiple prestigious awards, including two Grammys and a Gramophone Award.

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