Robert Schumann - Piano Sonata No. 3; Davidsbündlertänze (Maurizio Pollini)

Information

Composer: Robert Schumann

• Davidsbündlertänze, Op. 6 (1st ed. 1837)
• Concert sans orchestre (Piano Sonata No. 3) in F minor, Op. 14 (1st ed. 1835/1836)

Maurizio Pollini, piano

Date: 2001

Label: Deutsche Grammophon

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Review

Now‚ almost unbelievably‚ in his 60th year‚ Maurizio Pollini brings as much temperament and intensity to these two wholly Clara­inspired works as if Schumann’s youthful heart was his own. Anyone encountering him here for the first time might find it hard to believe that in former days his playing was often criticised as too objective‚ too impersonal. In the Davidsbündlertänze I have rarely heard stronger contrasts between Eusebius’s aching‚ idyllic dreams and Florestan’s fiery protests (Schumann’s two fictitious selves to whom he openly attributed the composition of the work when it first appeared)‚ with a strong note of petulance‚ even anger‚ in the latter in response to rejection by Clara’s unyielding father. Schumann devotees will immediately recognise what follows as part of the work that eventually emerged in the early 1850s as his Piano Sonata No 3 in F minor. Pollini has chosen to remind us that though originally conceived as an expansive five­movement sonata‚ Schumann’s publisher advised him to introduce it to the world in 1836 with its two Scherzos omitted under the curious title of Concert sans orchestre. Predating the Davidsbündlertänze by a year‚ it grew from even darker days of despair during enforced separation from his beloved‚ despair which explodes in a tumult of notes that in incompetent hands can sound perfunctorily repetitive. But even in the lengthy prestissimo possible finale‚ Pollini‚ with his transcendental agility and magical transparency of texture‚ holds you spellbound to the very end. Never is there a moment’s doubt that so very much in the work stems from Clara’s falling F minor motto (always as symbolic as a ring for both young lovers) which generated the here so deeply laden variations of the central Andantino. I found nothing to question in the quality of DG’s recording.

— Gramophone

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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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Maurizio Pollini (5 January 1942 – 23 March 2024) was an Italian pianist. After winning the 1959 Ettore Pozzoli Piano Competition and 1960 Chopin Piano Competition, he built a distinguished career performing with leading orchestras and conductors worldwide. Renowned for his interpretations of Beethoven, Chopin and Debussy, Pollini also championed contemporary composers and premiered several important new works. A lifelong Deutsche Grammophon artist, Pollini received numerous honors, including a Grammy Award, the Diapason d'Or de l'Année, and Gramophone Hall of Fame's induction.

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