Romance And Neurosis

A budget reissue disk of Evgeny Kissin playing Schumann, Kreisleriana and Fantasie in C. I can't pretend to be a critical expert on pianists or judge the exact quality of a performance unless it is something way out on the margins ( in either direction ) This performance by Kissin, which the label seems coy in dating, is fine by me and fits into the core repertoire that suits him best. It is in his solo piano music that the split in Schumann between his two souls of Eusebius and Florestan is most evident. Romantic and slightly neurotic, it's tempting to maybe read more into the music than is there given the sad medical history of mental health. In the Fantasie, Schumann stretches classical sonata form to the absolute limit but such is his influence on piano composition, with the passage of time it doesn't sound anything like so radical to modern ears, while remaining a work of great stature. Kreisleriana is more episodic, inspired by skethces from the writer / composer E T A Hoffmann and his quasi autobiographical creation Johannes Kreisler.