Lepidopterology

[Todd]

Robert Schumann is the archetypal romantic composer.  No one, not Berlioz, not Chopin, not Wagner, not even Liszt quite matches him.  (Well, maybe Liszt.)  He couldn't be bothered with constraining himself with tired old forms, and his inspiration could not help but be informed by everything he experienced.  A couple decades ago I went over many versions of both Carnaval and the Piano Concerto, and in those listening surveys it was evident that of-the-moment playing ruled, and flights of fancy in interpretation could and usually did yield the best results.  In his Op 2, penned when he was an impassioned and passionate young man, one can hear the same style of music scribbling.  Here's a work inspired by the final scene of the now forgotten Flegeljahre by Jean Paul, with the composer by his own description cranking out dance after dance.  There's an immediacy and unconscious purpose to the music.  Since it's a brief work, it seemed the perfect time to do rapid fire comps and to tier them up in the interwebs approved tiering system.  With Schumann, many of the most titanic of titans of the piano saw fit to record the work, so the average quality level is all but guaranteed to be high.  In such scenarios, tiering is desperately needed. 

With lab coat on and the latest version of SAS installed, it was time to get down to business.




Might as well go big to start, so Sviatoslav Richter kicks things off.  Richter takes his time in the introduction, with each note weighted just so.  A gentle first waltz segues to a thundering second waltz, and then it's right back to gentle, then dreamy, then back again.  Does the first Polonaise sing?  You betcha.  If the music calls for infinitely nuanced rhythmic propulsion, it's there.  If scale is needed, that is, too.  If a grand conclusion, with tolling repeated notes are needed to wrap it up, that's there, too.  Perhaps the work ends up sounding slightly sectionalized, but it hits the spot.  A tier.

[AnotherSpin]

Calling Wagner "romantic" is like calling Nietzsche "a philosopher." Yes, he began within Romanticism, but he succeeded in dissolving it.

[Todd]

Calling Wagner "romantic" is like calling Nietzsche "a philosopher." Yes, he began within Romanticism, but he succeeded in dissolving it.

OK.

[Todd]

If Schumann couldn't be bothered with form, Alfred Cortot couldn't be bothered to hit all the right notes.  Yet Cortot remains one of the greatest of all Schumann interpreters, bringing proper 19th Century sensibilities to music making.  Cortot opens quickly, but not too fast, and then proceeds to nearly seamlessly move from dance to dance, varying pace and rhythm flawlessly, adding perfectly calibrated oomph (scientifically speaking) where needed, and the freest sense of musical freedom.  The whole thing sounds scaled to a salon and gives off almost improvisatory vibes for almost the entire duration.  When he lunges into a section and then pulls back to smell the roses, it sounds like this is the only way the music can go.  Only Wilhelm Kempff pulls off a similar trick.  Rough around the edges a bit, it sounds even more of the moment than the live Richter recording.  S tier. 

[Todd]

Kun Woo Paik starts off with a big sonority and a slow tempo for the introduction, and he doesn't really shed either trait.  Even in the smaller scale waltzes, his sound remains comparatively large, and quite slow.  Each note or arpeggio gets dragged out a bit.  And it sounds studied.  This is no youthful, flight of fancy approach; it is super-prepared, actually or nearly beefy playing.  In some ways, it's kinda wrong, but in other ways, it's all right.  Indeed, Paik is at his most compelling when he plays at his daringly slowest.  B tier.

[Todd]

Leon McCawley, with a similar overall timing as Paik, but more breathing space in terms of recorded sound, goes for smaller scaled playing and more subtle nuance in all aspects of playing than Paik.  It sounds somewhat studied and comes close to sounding like museum quality playing, lacking in terms of freedom but excelling in terms of prep.  Dance rhythms are there to be heard, but they sound somewhat stilted.  His playing offers the listener the chance to just sort of revel in the delicate quieter playing, savoring each diminuendo or gentle, nudged out note.  C tier.

[hopefullytrusting]

If Schumann couldn't be bothered with form, Alfred Cortot couldn't be bothered to hit all the right notes.  Yet Cortot remains one of the greatest of all Schumann interpreters, bringing proper 19th Century sensibilities to music making.  Cortot opens quickly, but not too fast, and then proceeds to nearly seamlessly move from dance to dance, varying pace and rhythm flawlessly, adding perfectly calibrated oomph (scientifically speaking) where needed, and the freest sense of musical freedom.  The whole thing sounds scaled to a salon and gives off almost improvisatory vibes for almost the entire duration.  When he lunges into a section and then pulls back to smell the roses, it sounds like this is the only way the music can go.  Only Wilhelm Kempff pulls off a similar trick.  Rough around the edges a bit, it sounds even more of the moment than the live Richter recording.  S tier. 

One thing I love about Cortot (or Pollini for the diametric opposite) is that he makes everything he played sound romantic. We sometimes speak about hands melting into the keys of the piano, but I am convinced that for Cortot that was not a metaphor - he somehow always got the most out of a note - squeezing it until it ppppp - forcing the listener to stretch their ears to hear the last bit of sound (like someone dying of thirst in a desert). (Edwin Fischer is similar but different.)

[Todd]

Matthias Kirschnereit, in premium Berlin Classics piano sound (arguably the best in the business), starts slow as heck, with each note and phrase nuanced and controlled.  The Pomposo waltz shows him at his most compelling, with perfect rubato and perfect, subtle dynamic gradation.  The super serious approach is studied rather than free, but the degree of preparation is quite fine.  Never overtly virtuosic, the precision of every aspect of playing is admirable.  Perhaps it's too sober overall, but the sheen of technical perfection offers rewards.  B tier.

[Todd]

The first of three pianists to appear more than once, Samson François sort of represents the opposite of overprepared.  There's a sense of not just freedom, but sometimes near nonchalance in his playing.  In his studio recording, his rubato can sometimes come close to being too much, which means it is just enough.  His dynamic variegation and rhythmic near instability imparts a sense of daring, perhaps even recklessness.  It's almost like Cortot, but without the missed notes.  Though taped, one gets the sense of live in studio playing in multiple movements.  It's like he makes it up as he goes along.  A tier.

[Todd]

François' live recording, somewhat ironically, sounds better prepared than his studio recording.  It retains all of the other delectable elements of the studio recording.  The dude knew his Schumann.  A tier. 

[Todd]

Nelson Freire starts slow and rich, and then with the very first Waltz deploys a forward rushing style imbued with an irresistible rhythmic pulse and perfect dynamic control.  A beefy Pomposo Waltz segues smoothly back to a very dancy Allegretto vivace waltz.  Indeed, Freire keeps dance rhythms front and center, and then when he layers in the tonal nuance and virtuosically controlled dynamics, yeah, well, it just works.  A very extroverted presentation, this may be too concert hall for some, but with pianism unsurpassed by anyone in the survey, he pulls it off, to say the least.  A tier

[Todd]

Murray Perahia starts off with a slow introduction, then moves into a comparatively gentle first waltz, where nuance reigns.  His rhythm is solid and dancelike, but coming after someone like Freire, one hears what goes missing.  The Pomposo waltz sounds kind of heavy, which is not standard for Perahia, but there it is.  Then it's back to somewhat precious playing pretty much the rest of the way.  While the polish and beauty and appropriate vigor are undeniable, it lacks the romanticism that science demands.  C tier.

[Todd]

While it is impossible to describe Perahia as anything but refined, András Schiff sounds more refined yet in his ECM recording.  Also, Schiff's playing has often been described as precious, by me and others, and here, in some passages, one can hear that.  However, from the extra supple intro to the rhythmically alert second waltz, to the large-scale and incisive Pomposo waltz, to the hyper-refined A major waltz, Schiff displays command in all aspects of playing.  Perfectly calibrated romanticism is on offer.  The bright, colorful, crystal clear playing helps things, as well.  A tier.

[Todd]

Cecile Licad opts for a slow intro, with some biting upper registers, and the feel is somewhat stodgy.  She then blasts the first waltz at the listener, cranking up the volume, while the Prestissimo waltz that follows has a sound that borders on the rough.  Throughout the work, the slow music comes off as a bit stodgy and the faster music as rushed, with dynamics often played with a limited range, often mp or ff.  There's certainly no question Ms Licad's digital dexterity, and some of the stark effect is due to recording technique, but taken as a whole, this is not a contender.  C tier.

[Todd]

Jean-Marc Luisada makes the intro sound slower than it is, and then adopts a more standard sounding overall tempo, which, as per usual for him, he pulls to and fro, like musical taffy.  His dynamic contrasts are ace, his clarity of voices, too.  The top notch recording helps immensely here.  Luisada's rhythm is both catchy and strange, yielding Daliesque dances in places.  He sprinkles in so many little personal touches that the listener listens with no little selfishness for what comes next.  And that's twenty plus listens in.  Throw in color and (good) brightness and bracing lows, and, well, this works just dandy.  To be sure, it is scaled like a full-on quasi-orchestral concert piece and sounds idiosyncratic, but that's part of the Luisada magic.  S tier.

[Todd]

Andor Foldes offers as close to a no-nonsense, straight forward reading as can be imagined.  The notes are dashed off supremely well, with nice rhythm and dynamic contrasts.  But the whole thing sounds somewhat uninvolving.  Something is missing, despite the ease of delivery.  C tier.

[AnotherSpin]

What is S tier?

[hopefullytrusting]

What is S tier?

The highest normal ranking.

(SABCDEF)

[AnotherSpin]

The highest normal ranking.

(SABCDEF)

It seems that is the point, but what does the letter S stand for?

[ritter]

It seems that is the point, but what does the letter S stand for?

Superlative or superior...