Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Recordings of Schumann's Kreisleriana Op. 16

What are some of your favorite recordings of this work? I personally like Kissin's and Pollini's rendiions, not to mention Horowitz's older, but still good version.

Has anyone learned this work? I am thinking about learning it for a future recital, and any feedback on it would be appreciated.

This is one of my favorites. I've played it and own more recordings of it than any other work.

Among the recordings I have, my favorites are (in order):

Lupu
Egorov
Horowitz (I prefer the old one, but the newer one is interesting, too)
Argerich
Grimaud (an old release on Denon)

Others that I like but are just "OK" include:

Schiff
Perahia
Gulda

As far as playing it goes, it's a wonderful set, full of many interesting things. Typical of Schumann, it's not terribly pianistic, but it's not particularly awkward either. The only part that really gave me fits was the end of the 3rd piece, and memorizing the last one is kind of tricky.

My favorites are the first two and the last two of the set, but there's not a single one I don't like.

There is sort of a unifying theme to the work. If you check the LH of the first piece, you have A-D-E-F. This motive comes back most obviously as the theme (in the RH) of the 3rd piece and as the theme of the 7th.

The piece was inspired by a literary work of the same name by E.T.A. Hoffman. Hoffman's Kreisleriana paints a picture of a wild, eccentric, but brilliant and vibrant kapellmeister named Kreisler (thus my handle and email address.) It's a fascinating look at the ur-artist of the early German romantic period and Schumann's piece captures it perfectly.

For this reason I tend to think of the Kreisleriana as one of the most (if not THE most) important and characteristic of Schumann's works.

I think I've posted this link before, but here's the only bit of my recording of it I can find:

http://kreisleriana.com/audio/kreisleriana.mp3

What do you think of it, as a pianist? I read over the score, and I don't think it is all too bad technically. Some parts actually remind me of the Chopin b minor Scherzo I just did, and the slow movements are absolutely great.

Hehe, you're too quick! Read my edit...

Already memorized it too.

(Between your edit that is.)

Very nice recording as well, that is really a great movement. I have a DVD with Nicolas Economou playing it, pretty interesting.

As for programming it, would you put it alone in the second half of a program, since it is so long, or add a few smaller pieces before it?

I like Radu Lupu's recording. And the other stuff on that disc is pretty good too.

One rendition that hasn't been mentioned here yet is Rubinstein's recording. He played a considerable amount of Schumann's output, although his forte was certainly Chopin. Yet this Kreisleriana is excellent.

Rubinstein considered Schumann to be one of his specialties. That has its adherents and detractors, of course. The first time I heard his recording of Schumann's Fantasy in C (say as compared to Brendel, for example), I thougt it was off the mark if not odd. Yet the more I listened to it, the more I was drawn to his interpretation.

Overall, Rubinstein's performances have continued to wear well. He had his flaws and inaccuracies, and was not like the extraordinary technicians who surfeit us with their perfect but homogenized playing these days. But he was always magisterial and artistic in capturing the true spirit of a work. He knew how to "put a piece over" to move an audience. (I was lucky to see him in recital at Symphony Hall in Boston years ago. His appearances were always big events.) He was one of a kind and is still widely missed.

I put it alone on the second half.

That is what I was leaning towards. Do you think the program will be too heavy if I had the Bach g minor English suite and Mozart K.333 B flat major sonata in the first half, along with the Schumann in the second? It seems like too many big pieces with not much pause, as opposed to a series of smaller works. I just don't want the audience to get restless or the program be unbalanced!

I don't really like it, but I recognize that it's a very profound piece of music. I'd suggest doing some other Schumann first and waiting a few years on this one. The notes may not be difficult to pull off, but technical considerations are always the least of your worries in Schumann (even in something like the Toccata).

Thanks, Brendan. I have a question regarding college and repertoire, do the teachers that you study with usually make suggestions (Especially undergraduates) on what to learn, or are there any absolute requirments that must be met? (Such as the criteria for audition repertoire)

Also, I know there are juries each semester at my school in order to see how much progress has been made, but as for actual recital oppurtunies, is there really only the big on at the end of 4 years? Thanks!

It depends on your teacher. De Moura Castro gave a masterclass here in April and he seemed pretty cool, but I can't really say about his attitudes towards assigning repertoire to his students (didn't play in the masterclass).

You can usually play what you want, although if you wanted to do Hammerklavier + Liszt Sonata + People United there might be some consternation.

Juries every semester? Harsh. We play yearly juries yere. As far as recitals go, there is usually a required senior recital and a required but non-graded junior recital. Ask your teacher for specifics.

De Moura Castro will be my teacher next year, and he seems like an excellent one, so I look forward to it! The recital sounds look it will be very rewarding. When did you start working on the repertoire for that particular recital? (Messiaen and Liszt right?)

I started in the summer and did the recital in February, plus the concerto competition and a few other things.

I've been enjoying the old Dover recording by the late Vlado Perlmuter. He seems to have recorded it again later, on a CD that you can actually find. He doesn't always have the fingers, but you can tell that he had a lot of thought behind it.

I would love to work on this piece someday. I played Fasschinswank aus Wien (sp.) before my extended break of 13 yrs., and am not up to Kreisleriana just now.

How "overplayed" is this piece? Do a lot of people play it in colleges and conservatories?

Kreisleriana has become popular lately, but there was a time when it was hardly played at all, or else butchered and presented in sections, as with Hofmann's version. Horowitz and Rubinstein didn't get around to recording in until the 1960s.

Rubinstein's was the first recording of the piece I heard ( I remember it was issued on LP with a bizarre cover featuring a painting of a cat), and I remember thinking "what a boring piece." The pianist didn't often play it in public, and the performance just doesn't seem to come alive, although there are nice individual qualities. I have the CD reissue (I have all of Rubinstein's recordings) and retain my opinion.

Horowitz 1969 recording for me remains the benchmark performance. In my opinion, it's Horowitz greatest recorded performance (and unlike many recordings, it's not a multi-spliced studio creation. The whole thing was recorded in one incredibly inspired session at Columbia's 30th Street Studio), and the sound is one of the few recordings which really captures Horowitz's sonority. Horowitz's 1985 version on DG has some interesting facets, including some remarkable phrasing in the slower sections, but doesn't hold together as well as the 1969 recording.

Perahia has also made a very good recording.

One word about editions. Clara Schumann made numerous revisions to her husbands works, deleting anything she thought to hint at his mental troubles, and if you examine the various versions of Kreisleriana you will note that Clara even added a G minor chird at the end of the fifth movement (in Schumann's original, it ends unresolved).

My favorite recording used to be Wirsaladze but I recently came across this unknown pianist who appears to be in psychiatry. His version is in my opinion sensational: Michiel Demarey Kreisleriana on YouTube.
Besides that I was actually quite impressed by Yuja Wang live. She really comprehends it well and quite lively lyricism too.
Definitely changed my opinion on her.

Crashtest, that program looks fine to me, will you play all the repeats in the Mozart sonata? That makes it last for nearly 30 minutes, albeit worth the effort. My favourite reording of Kreisleriana is Youri Egorov's.