Schumann: Novelletten (8), Op. 21

The next issue in the complete works for piano series on Claves, sees the young dynamic pianist Cédric Pescia record his second album in this delightful series. The first was volume 2 and was extremely well received by the press. Volume 5 will no doubt see a similar reaction.

A special atmosphere conveys a central theme throughout this CD which includes pieces by Schumann, Franz Schubert, Claude Debussy, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, and two compositions by Franz Vorraber; the pianist himself.

A disciple of Jan Vermeulen and André De Groote, Piet Kuijken completed his studies at the Indiana University with Menahem Pressler. His collaborations with his father Wieland, his uncle Barthold, artists and ensembles like Marcel Ponseele, Oxalys or the Ensemble Explorations, have drawn attention to his talent, already noticed and rewarded by several magazines in France. He enters the Fuga Libera catalogue with a journey through the years 1838-39, when Schumann, madly in love with Clara, expresses his feelings in many piano masterpieces, some more famous than, others. This journey is offered on an 1850 Johann Baptist Streicher fortepiano, an instrument much appreciated by Clara and Robert Schumann. For those who doubt the value of period instruments for the great Romantic generation, here is a playing that will hopefully modify that perception.

Eric Lesage continues his flamboyant exploration of Robert Schumann's solo piano repertoire, recorded in the outstanding acoustic of La Chaux-de-Fonds.This series will be completed in 2010, the anniversary of Schumann's birth.

Described as ‘miraculously gifted’ by Alfred Cortot, Dino Ciani was a contemporary of Maurizio Pollini. Born in Croatia in 1941, he died aged just 32 in a car crash in Rome in 1974, robbing the world of one of the great pianists of the late 20th century. He had a remarkable rise to fame, and was offered a Deutsche Grammophon contract. His repertoire centred on Beethoven, Bartók , Brahms, Debussy, Chopin, Liszt, Mozart, Schumann, Schubert and Weber. He also explored lesser-known areas of the repertoire, making pioneering recordings of Hummel and Kozeluch. As a pianist he divided opinions, but with supporter such as Cortot, and the support of conductors of the calibre of Abbado, Muti, Barbirolli, Guilini and Gui, his reputation is assured. Like many artists who die young he became a cult figure for some. He can now be judged for what he was – in the words of Cortot ‘one of the most remarkable examples of the rarest talents one could hope to find’.

‘Ciani commands a very fine technique and impressive musicality. …there are many virtues, such as Ciani's beautiful handling of the Intermezzo of this work, or of the latter part of the second Trio of No.8. Note also how well he manages No.4 where so many pianists would lose control, or the whole of No.5 which with its piano and orchestra overtones, is in several respects the most demanding of the set.’ Gramophone, Schumann Novelletten, 1969

‘Dino Ciani, although not a Frenchman, was a pupil of Cortot and the first thing to be said about his Debussy is that it is absolutely idiomatic. I admire him particularly because his view is sane and steady and because it has been formed from a conscientious interpretation of every detail of Debussy's text.’ Gramophone, Debussy Preludes, 1973