Repertoire: The BEST Schumann Piano Concerto 

Excellent talk! Just a few comments, though. If you want Argerich, her live video version with Chailly/Gewandhaus was released by Decca in audio CD format, and is probably the best of her commercially issued versions when it comes to the orchestral contribution. If you want Kempff, though, his earlier Decca recording with Krips is light years better than his stereo remake with Kubelik, where Kempff's stiff phrasing and effortful handling of the finale's gnarly patterns find this pianist way past his best. Krips also is the conductor for Rubinstein's late 50s stereo version, which I find more impetuous and technically incisive compared to his mellower Chicago version. However, among "sleepers," there's one version that really deserves serious consideration. A few years ago I reviewed the Decca complete Wilhelm Backhaus box, and for some reason I had not heard his Schumann Concerto with Gunter Wand and the Vienna Philharmonic ca. 1960. It's fabulous! Backhaus conveys his somewhat austere and symphonic conception with the utmost command and technical authority, with every trill perfectly poised and all of the thick chords in perfect balance. And he also is willing to accompany when necessary. In this sense Backhaus, more than Arrau, is the Klemperer of the piano, at least in this work. I'd even go so far to say that this is Backhaus' finest stereo concerto recording.

I have heard several wonderful performances of the Schumann with Maurizio Pollini as soloist. His playing is unmannered, the tempos of first and last movements are perfect, yet there is great passion. Many years ago, my uncle, who had listened a great deal, said that I was unlucky to have heard it played so well, as very few could do it that well. Pollini recorded it with the BPO/Abbado - a great performance I think.

Michelangeli live recording witch Scherchen is Fantastic. Not easy to find but well worth hearing. Thankfully, it’s here on RU-vid!

My sentimental favorite is the Dinu Lipatti recording with von Karajan.

First recording I had was Peter Frankl with Janos Furst conducting Bamberg Symphony on a Vox label Quadraphonic LP (never had a Quad system); did anyone else? Also had the Intro and Allegro Konzertstuck pieces you mentioned. I like his performance; very flowing and the recording has a somewhat surround sound effect. Since this is a long piece, about 32+ minutes, it was always challenging to get it to have wide dynamic sound from an LP and without surface noise. CDs really took care of that problem!

There are for me two pianists where one has to have “everything” - Lipatti and Haskil.

I love the Fleisher recording. My favorite Romantic piano concerto, Schumann created a musical miracle here.

Thanks for mentioning Cortot/Ronald, a performance I hadn't heard. I found it, as you said, on RU-vid and really enjoyed it.

I do have a soft spot for Katchen and Anda in this concerto. But there are so many great versions around that it would take another couple of hours to talk about them. Interestingly, this is a concerto that great pianists rarely messed up.

Adrian Boult's first professional concert as a conductor (he had been a singer) was on February 27 1914, with 40 members of the Liverpool and Halle orchestras. He played only two movements of the Schumann (2 & 3) - something that perhaps you could get away with in 1914! The rest of the programme included the Mastersingers overture, Brandenburg no. 2, the first performance of Butterworth's The Banks of Green Willow, and the first British performance of Wolf's Italian Serenade. Plus songs with piano. Those were the days.

I wholly agree this is a very tricky work! Personally, I have very few favorites in this work that many of my favorite pianists don't move me in, but the one I probably like the most is Samson Francois with Paul Kletzki and the ORTF. To my ears Francois plays with a kind of free wheeling flexibility that keeps the line flowing and ebbing, and Kletzki with the orchestra provides a wonderfully strong and capable foil.

Arrau on Philips is as you say a bit weighty, but the EMI recording from the late 50s with the Philharmonia (released as part of the Icon Series, "Claudio Arrau: Virtuoso Philosopher of the Piano") has all his beautiful tone as well as being quite fleet (for Arrau). I have always loved how Perahia does Beethoven's 4th and the Schumann, since he creates such a perfectly balanced dialogue with the orchestra, and these two concertos seem to demand that more than most others do. Pollini and Abbado perhaps?

It's worth taking note when Dave recommends Karajan in German romantic repertoire. I sampled the Zimerman disc with no great expectations, but wow, he plays fabulously in both concertos. The surprisingly good recording and slower tempos allow all the details to be heard clearly. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

I love the Janis Reiner recording! To me it is on a par with the Fleisher. It was not released right after it was recorded,probably because Cliburn recorded it at about the same time,and Cliburn was more marketable at the time

Well, all my favorites were mentioned. Really nice to see Freire/Kempe get mentioned. Their Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto recording is still my favorite recording of that work which also never gets mentioned.

The Freire/Kempe was one of my earliest LP purchases. It was coupled with the Tchaikovsky and Greig, along with Liszt’s Totentanz on two discs. I loved it!

The Serkin was my first Schumann PC on one of those CBS Great Performances cassettes. It came with the Schumann Piano Quintet with Serkin and the Budapest Quartet which is another good one from what I can remember.

I definitely agree with your "However" choice. The Serkin/Ormandy recording is my all-time favorite recording of the Schumann Piano Concerto.

Immediately find Serkin-Ormandy duo THREE TIMES in the Sekin Box alone: 1941, 1957 and 1967. I am listening to the last one. Also I think the Haskil-van Otterloo one is worth noting. Elegantly played and wonderfully structured.

Hey David. Just found your channel a few days ago. Very informative. I can tell you have deep love for the music. Thanks for sharing your knowledge about classical music and at the same time not taking it to seriously with your great sense of humor.

Igor Levit said that this concerto is so improvisatory that it's almost "Miles Davisian"... I almost spit out my milk 🙄

Thanks David, the Serkin/Ormandy is my all time favorite; Serkin's lyricism is just incredible. One more difference with the Moravec/Neumann CD is the Kinderszenen is a different performance from the one in the Portrait box.

Thanks for discovering me the Freire/Chailly set. I find it sublime. I have hitherto mostly listened to the Zimerman/Bernstein recordings that I own, and although I found Zimerman's piano playing impressive the integration with the orchestra is abrupt, with many dynamic exaggerations that now seem totally out of place to me. One cherishes sometimes a recording to which one has grown accustomed. Here I am happy to discover this magnificent new recording, throwing the other one to the trash. It is so wondeful this harmony between piano and orchestra. This phrasing, the wide breadth of the brahmsian melodies so nicely captured. Thanks a lot for this wise recommendation.

I agree about the Serkin. It's amazing. It's still available as a single CD from Japan.

If I’m in the mood for old recording, Schnabel Monteux NYPSO 1943 live is my go-to one. The sound is poor but good for its period. I’m going to get Cortot and compare them. Thanks.

If you ever get tired of Argerich unbound (which is unlikely), I recommend Larrocha / Davis on RCA. Elegant, calm but not sluggish, solid and lush sound and the care Larrocha takes with her part makes it look like a much bigger work, in my opinion.

Interesting overview. My favorite of all Schumann Piano Concerto recordings is Myra Hess with Rudolf Schwarz and the Philharmonia Orchestra, sheer elegant, heartfelt poetry from beginning to end. I also like Michelangeli's 1948 American debut with this piece, conducted by Dmitri Mitropoulos (although the recorded sound is atrociously bad.) I grew up with Rubinstein's first two recordings, one with William Steinberg and the other with Josef Krips, and find both more exciting than the rather staid Giulini outing (i am not a Giulini fan.) Geza Anda with Rafael Kubelik is also quite beautiful. We are having our first disagreement: Rudolf Serkin sounds a little bangy and too Brahmsian for my taste in this concerto, which I have always thought more "feminine" than "masculine." A real "sleeper" of a recording is Wilhelm Backhaus with Gunter Wand, also beautifully recorded. Chacun à son goût, or should I say Jedem das Seine?

another great talk. In terms of potential pitfalls, there's a cross rhythm towards the end of the finale which apparently has caused coordination issues between soloist and semi-professional orchestra.

Does someone think, like me, that the opening theme is also used in the song "Bésame, bésame mucho, como si fuera esta noche la última vez..."?

Annie Fischer is wonderful in this music. The studio version has Klemperer (interesting, as ever, but not a natural concerto conductor) & there's a live version with Keilberth conducting the none too glamorous Cologne radio orchestra in 1957. But in both, Fischer seems to me just so completely apt.

Kind of surprised that Stephen Bishop Kovacevich's recording with Colin Davis and the BBC Symphony Orchestra was not mentioned. It received a "rosette" in the old Penguin Guide, which is why I bought it, back then.

It's so true what you say about the sheer volume of recordings available. You could have literally spoken for hours on the subject. Being inclined to historical recordings, I would also like to recommend Myra Hess with Walter Goehr, Yves Nat with Eugene Bigot and Benno Moiseiwitsch with Otto Ackermann. Another unique interpretation is Wilhelm Backhaus with Gunther Wand, a recording that has an unusually cohesive sense of ensemble and is an exhilerating performance. it's interesting to me that Vladimir Horowitz never was inclined to record or perform (to my knowledge) the concerto, perhaps for good reason.

What a bewildering variety of recordings -- and you only scratched the surface! I definitely have my preferences in this work, and you touched on several of them. But I wanted to recommend to you and your listeners the FIRST of Arrau's three recordings. This is currently housed in an EMI Icon box that is invaluable for enabling Arrau's admirers to hear his work in standard pianistic repertoire (lots of Beethoven) before aging slowed him down and made him more introverted. This early stereo Schumann has more vitality, bravura and Schwung than his later two, with no diminution of sensitivity. That deep-in-the-keys tone, though less well reproduced by the EMI engineers, is still there for all to enjoy. Galliera and the Philharmonia are by no means shrinking violets. As for your first pick--Serkin/Ormandy--I remain ambivalent. Ormandy's contribution is glorious, but Serkin's characteristic "flinty" tone always bothers me, at least in this work (and elsewhere, too, such as in the Mendelssohn concertos). Schumann needs a more coaxing manner and a more sensuously beautiful tone--such as what Perahia, Lupu and Lipatti provide. But this is, of course, a matter of taste. Great review, though!

Ivan Moravec was one of the twentieth century's most underrated and underappreciated pianists. Dave is quite correct is stating that Moravec was one of its "greatest poets". In particular, look for and gobble up as many of Ivan Moravec's performances on the Connoisseur Society LPs as you can find. They are acoustically sublime when played through a high end stereo system and the Connoisseur Society LPs were especially adept at reproducing piano works.

Hi Dave! All three of your top picks are first rate! I am curious what you think of Schiff/Dorati? I keep coming back to that one for some reason. I usually find Schiff’s playing rather fussy and somewhat quirky, but there is something very sweet about this performance, especially with how the finale seems to flow along effortlessly without sounding forced in the least - which is a frequent beef that I have with many other performances.

Great video!! Agree %100. What about a video of the best recordings of his Cello Concerto?? 😏

I really love the Clara Haskil with The Hague and Otterloo recording despite the poor sound.

You left out the great American recording with Van Cliburn and Reiner and the Chicago Symphony. The first time I heard it my hair stood on end with those opening chords with Cliburn's golden sound. On the latest re-issue of that recording you also get his recording of the Prokofiev Third Concerto.

What a marvellous work - it really never palls (as a work, I'm not talking about performances) no matter how often you hear it. In this its a bit like Mozart which is obviously praise indeed! Interesting what you say about Arrau - I have a 1970s live performance with him and Jochum from the Concertgebouw and I did find it a bit ponderous. Agree that Richter tended to take Schumann too earnestly, and in his solo playing too, there isn't much of the necessary lightness and whimsy. If you listen to his Symphonic Studies, and then listen to Kempff, its pretty obvious. In the concerto I have Cortot and Lipatti (every home should have the Lipatti icon box!) but the sonics require some toleration. So, for me, the Perahia/ Abbado disc is a great modern recommendation, its very good, and the coupled works are great to hear done so well also. Reading reviews, it seems there's a recent tendency to play the finale significantly slower than the accumulated performing tradition suggests (Angela Hewitt etc). Maybe based on a remark by Clara about the right speed, maybe also by analogy with the galumphing polonaise finale of the violin Concerto (which is a work I actually like). I think this is definitely a case where the performing tradition has done better by the work.

Perhaps another version to consider would be Rösel/Masur. His playing of the cadenza is masterful.

My favourite is played by the Philharmonia Hungarica under Alfred Scholz with the pianist Dubravka Tomsic. The first movement is particularly stunning, the cadenza is perfect! The recording quality isn’t the greatest but it is a seriously good performance, especially by Tomsic. I wonder how many have heard this?

Dave, I’m a subscriber to your channel, and I’ve remarked a few times that I really reckon your audience would appreciate a review of the recent Berliner Philharmoniker Mahler cycle. A bunch of other critics have reviewed it, but you’re the Mahler guy! I personally have very much enjoyed Harding’s 1st, the Nelsons 2nd and the Haitink 9th (his only 9th recorded with the Berliner Phil?). Dudamel’s 3rd is better than I expected, while symphonies 4-7 seem like the weaker links. I personally do not ‘get’ the 8th (my fault), so have not given it a close listening. The sonics throughout the cycle give, for the most part, an outstanding orchestral picture - clear textures, vivid woodwinds, punchy brass that’s not too bright. I’d love to hear your seasoned opinion on the cycle, even if you find the exact opposite to what I’ve found - it will allow me to try and pick up new things in what I’m listening to (‘Keep on Listening!’).

I have always preferred poetic, Eusebian performances of the Schumann Concerto, but I first check out the coda to the first movement. It has to be light and crisp and not rushed. My favorite recording ever since it was released and remains so today is Eugene Istomin’s with Bruno Walter coupled with my equally favorite Brahms Double Concerto with Francescatti and Fournier. I have never heard anyone do that coda as well as Walter did and Istomin has the perfect touch for Schumann. That recording came out at the same time as Fleischer/Szell whose Florestanian approach I found too cool. I also admire both of Murray Perahia’s accounts as much for their couplings as for the Schumann Concerto.

Great picks overall … Fleisher/Szell is my all time favorite but Moravec is up there too

What about Kissin/Giulini with the VPO? I love this performance, passionate and incredibly alive (it’s a live recording). Amazing how the orchestra “sings” - beginning of the second movement, the dialog with the piano

Just listened to the Richter /Rowicki recording (Richter "pianist of the century" box set cd4) on first listen it didn't really work for me, a bit on the busy side/contrived. It won't replace my Giga Juke version which currently has Jorge Federico Osorio with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (on ASV Quicksilva) keeping it simple. I have a copy of the Stephen Bishop/Colin Davis version to listen to at sometime - who knows, dull might work?.

Dave, I discovered Lipati quite by chance some time ago. Glad to hear I was correct to trust my own judgment. But a question. Thanks to your recommendation, I bought the Columbia mono Ormandy box. A steep purchase for my budget, but glad to say worth it. Question, there is a performance of the Schumann Concerto with Serkin there. I guess the one you mention in this talk is in stereo. How does the earlier mono performance compare to the stereo performance? I plan to listen to the mono performance soon, but I'm curious if you would recommend investing in the stereo performance too. Best wishes, Mark Lee Austin, Tx

Any up-votes for the Eugene Istomin / Bruno Walter performance? It's fleet and dynamic.

13:00 Shelley tries to take the main theme at an Allegretto pace, whereas everyone else I've heard is Moderato or slower. That's part of what makes his take refreshing

Hi Dave. Did you hear Michelangeli/Barenboim?

Dave, since you’re willing (in this rare case) to go back to Cortot, how about Emil von Sauer live in 1940 with Mengelberg, who provided plenty of “surging” to accompany the old virtuoso’s elegant poetry.

Dave, you going to the M2 by the Met Opera orchestra outside on S. 4th or 5th?

Great talk. I prefer Argerich's recording with Harnoncourt actually, out of all of her recordings. Although I saw her do it live at the Proms with Tilson Thomas (available on YT I think) which was great. Agree with most of your recommendations and would add a couple... Solomon - a truly wonderful pianist and similar to what you say about Lipatti, I think you have to have everything he did as he recoded so little. Hough - same as Helmchen, coupled with the Dvorak and it is a great performance of that too. Andris Nelsons isn't the best accompanist but I forgive that as I think Stephen Hough is brilliant!

Since you talked about Kempff, and since you said in another video that you read a lot of criticism, I'm very curious to know your reaction to a statement about Kempff made by a critic from a previous generation. It was one of the following critics, I can't remember which, either Eric Salzmann or Harris Goldsmith. In a review of one of Kempff's Beethoven sonata recordings the statement was that Wilhelm Kempff was "a second rate pianist who has the good fortune to be recording with a major record company." As criticism goes was that over the top?

As I'm too impatient to watch this goodie to the end (I have to brew a good coffe and find some cookies to go with it for full enjoyment) I just want to state on forehand and in capital letters: ANDA-KUBELÍK (oh yes!)

I generally find the concerto doesn’t engage me. Even a live performance by Argerich left me cold (SFS/MTT). Only one version has left me bowled over and it’s not in your list. But I will try the versions recommended which I haven’t heard before to find something different. Thank you for a fascinating survey.

My all-time favourite would have to be Kovacevich with Colin Davis and the BBC Symphony on Philips. It's a flawless performance, coupled with a magnificent Grieg Piano Concerto, and was included in the Philips 50 Great Recordings series, and I can see why! I highly recommend listening to it (if you haven't already), because the pairing of soloist and conductor is amazing.

I love a performance of Helene grimaud😊

Hello dave. Here Gilles from France. APR has released a double CD including remammed versions of the Schumann and Grieg concertos by Lipatti that are far superior to those in the EMI box set Yours sincerely,

And where is Michelangeli ?

Lipatti forever?