Schumann; Novelletten Op. 21 & Encores; Michel Block, Piano

On this CD:

1. Noveletten (8), for piano, Op. 21 Markirt Und Kraftig
Composed by Robert Schumann
Performed by Michel Block

2. Noveletten (8), for piano, Op. 21 Ausserst Raschy Und Mit Bravour
Composed by Robert Schumann
Performed by Michel Block

3. Noveletten (8), for piano, Op. 21 No 03, Leicht und mit Humor
Composed by Robert Schumann
Performed by Michel Block

4. Noveletten (8), for piano, Op. 21 Ballmassig, Sehr Munter
Composed by Robert Schumann
Performed by Michel Block

5. Noveletten (8), for piano, Op. 21 No 05, Rauschend und festlich
Composed by Robert Schumann
Performed by Michel Block

6. Noveletten (8), for piano, Op. 21 Sehr Lebhaft, Mit Vielem Humor
Composed by Robert Schumann
Performed by Michel Block

7. Noveletten (8), for piano, Op. 21 Ausserst Rasch
Composed by Robert Schumann
Performed by Michel Block

8. Noveletten (8), for piano, Op. 21 Sehr Lebhaft
Composed by Robert Schumann
Performed by Michel Block

9. Children's Corner, suite for piano (or orchestra), L. 113 No 3, Serenade for the Doll
Composed by Claude Debussy
Performed by Michel Block

10. Quelques aspects de "Nous n'irons plus au bois," for piano Quelques Aspects de "Nous N'irons Plus Au Bois", P
Composed by Claude Debussy
Performed by Michel Block

11. Ma Plus Belle Histoire D'Amour Ma Plus Belle Histoire D'Amour
Composed by Monique Cerf
Performed by Michel Block

Editorial Reviews
Ricard de La Rosa, Producer - February 1996
"Recital Tapes, Digitally Remastered"

Album Description
Michel Block, Piano Robert Schumann (1810 - 56): Novelletten, Op.21
1. Markirt und kräftig - Trio
2. Äusserst rasch und mit Bravour - Intermezzo. Etwas langsamer durchaus zart - Erstes Tempo
3. Leicht und mit Humor - Intermezo. Rasch und wild - Erstes Tempo - Adagio
4. Ballmässig, Sehr munter - Noch schneller - Erstes Tempo
5. Rauschend und festlich - Etwas langsamer - Etwas langsamer - sehr lebhaft - Erstes Tempo - Tempo I
6. Sehr lebaft, mit vielem Humor - Immer schneller und schneller - Tempo I
7. Äusserst rasch - Etwas langsamer - Erstes Tempo
8. Sehr lebhaft - Trio I. Noch lebhafter - Adagio - Wie früher - Trio II. Hell und lustig - Tempo I - Stimme aus der Ferne - Fortsetzung. Einfach und gesangvoll - Adagio - Tempo wie im vorigen Stück - Adagio - Fortsetzung und SchluB. Munter, nicht zu rasch - Nach und nach lebhafter - Tempo I - Adagio

3 Encores

Claude Debussy (1816 - 1918)
9. Serenade for the Doll from Children's Corner
10. Quelques aspects de "Nous n'irons plus au bois, " parce qu'il fait un temps

Barbara (1930 -) - Michel Block
11. Ma plus belle histoire d'amour

Robert Schumann: Novelletten, Op.21Ballmässig, No.4

Tracks:

Novelletten, Op.21: No.1 Markirt und kraftig-Trio
Novelletten, Op.21: No.2 Ausserst rasch und mit Bravour-Intermezzo. Erwas langsamer durchaus zart...
Novelletten, Op.21: No.3 Leicht und mit Humor-Intermezzo. Rasch und wild-Erstes Tempo-Adagio
Novelletten, Op.21: No.4 Ballmassig, Sehr munter-Noch schneller-Erstes Tempo
Novelletten, Op.21: No.5 Rauschend und festlich-Etwas langsamer-Etwas langsamer-Sehr lebhaft...
Novelletten, Op.21: No.6 Sehr lebhaft, mit vielem Humor-Immer schneller und schneller-Tempo 1
Novelletten, Op.21: No.7 Ausserst rasch-Etwas langsamer-Erstes Tempo
Novelletten, Op.21: No.8 Sehr lebhaft-Trio I. Noch lebhafter-Adagio-Wie fruher/Trio II. Hell und...
3 Encores: Ser for the Doll from Children's Corner
3 Encores: Quelques aspects de 'Nous n'irons plus au bois,' parce qu'il fait un temps...
3 Encores: Ma plus belle histoire d'amour

Album Description

Michel Block, Piano Robert Schumann (1810 - 56): Novelletten, Op.21
1. Markirt und kräftig - Trio
2. Äusserst rasch und mit Bravour - Intermezzo. Etwas langsamer durchaus zart - Erstes Tempo
3. Leicht und mit Humor - Intermezo. Rasch und wild - Erstes Tempo - Adagio
4. Ballmässig, Sehr munter - Noch schneller - Erstes Tempo
5. Rauschend und festlich - Etwas langsamer - Etwas langsamer - sehr lebhaft - Erstes Tempo - Tempo I
6. Sehr lebaft, mit vielem Humor - Immer schneller und schneller - Tempo I
7. Äusserst rasch - Etwas langsamer - Erstes Tempo
8. Sehr lebhaft - Trio I. Noch lebhafter - Adagio - Wie früher - Trio II. Hell und lustig - Tempo I - Stimme aus der Ferne - Fortsetzung. Einfach und gesangvoll - Adagio - Tempo wie im vorigen Stück - Adagio - Fortsetzung und SchluB. Munter, nicht zu rasch - Nach und nach lebhafter - Tempo I - Adagio

3 Encores

Claude Debussy (1816 - 1918)
9. Serenade for the Doll from Children's Corner
10. Quelques aspects de "Nous n'irons plus au bois, " parce qu'il fait un temps

Barbara (1930 -) - Michel Block
11. Ma plus belle histoire d'amour

Tracks:

Novellette No. 1 in F Major
Novellette No. 2 in D Major
Novellette No. 3 in D Major
Novellette No. 4 in D Major
Novellette No. 5 in D Major
Novellette No. 6 in A Major
Novellette No. 7 In E Major
Novellette No. 8 in F-sharp Minor

Schumann: Abegg Variations; Novelletten; Fantasiestücke

Average customer rating:

A Pianist with Maturity beyond His Years--and Technique to Burn
Poetry and Fire: A Pianist to Watch

Schumann: Abegg Variations; Novelletten; Fantasiestücke

Manufacturer: Naxos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

4-for-3 Classical | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music

4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B0009SQCA0
Release Date: 2005-07-19

Tracks:

Theme Sur Le Nom Abegg, Varie Pour Le Pianoforte, Op.1
Markiert Und Kraftig
Ausserst Rasch Und Mit Bravour
Leicht Und Mit Humor
Ballmassig, Sehr Munter
Rauschend Und Festlich
Sehr Lebhaft, Mit Vielen Humor
Ausserst Rasch
Sehr Lebhaft
Sehr Rasch, Mit Leidenschaftlichen Vortrag
Ziemlich Langsam
Kraftig Und Sehr Markiert

Customer Reviews:

A Pianist with Maturity beyond His Years--and Technique to Burn.......2006-03-02

I'd expect a young pianist to bring appropriate freshness and spontaneity to Schumann's Opus 1, with which the composer hoped to dazzle in the manner of Henri Herz and other manufacturers of virtuoso piano variations popular in the 1830s. What I didn't expect of so young a performer as Kotaro Fukuma (born 1982) is the kind of maturity needed to make Schumann's Opus 111, written over twenty years later, sound as involving as the masterworks of the composer's youth. In fact, the first time I heard these three pieces (in a performance by Claudio Arrau), I thought they represented a great falling off of talent. Fukuma shows us definitively that that's a mistake in judgment. The first two pieces of Opus 111 especially are straight from Schumann's troubled heart and speak of the great sadness of his last years as well as of nostalgia for a happy past the composer probably never really knew. Fukuma plays these pieces as they need to be, with simplicity and directness. His is certainly among the finest performances of the work I've ever heard.

Just as welcome is Fukuma's performance of the Novelletten. The first two pieces in the cycle are among Schumann's most popular, and Fukuma chooses perfect tempi for them and phrases them with sensitivity. The surprising thing is how attractive he makes the rest of the pieces seem. At one time, I confess, back in LP days, I'd take out my record of the Novelletten and listen to the first two pieces, lose interest, and walk away while the pianist ground through the rest of the cycle. Well, I've come to fully respect Schumann's invention in these wonderful works, and Fukuma helps me see the error of my ways all the more. He brings great warmth and fantasy to them--a faultless technique doesn't hinder his efforts either.

Naxos provides bright, clean piano tone and a nice sense of the hall (the Performing Arts center of the County Day School in King City, Ontario). Altogther, a very distinguished entry in Naxos' Laureate Series.

Poetry and Fire: A Pianist to Watch.......2005-07-31

This is the debut album of Kotaro Fukuma (b.1982), the 2003 winner of the Cleveland International Piano Competition. Earlier, at age fourteen, he had won a prize at the Gina Bachauer International Young Artists Piano Competition in Salt Lake City. He has studied in his native Japan and in Paris with Bruno Rigutto. This recording is part of the 'Laureate Series' of the Naxos label which has been bringing us recordings of emerging artists.

This is an all-Schumann recital that begins with an exciting 'Abegg Variations,' Op. 1, and is followed by the 'Novelletten', Op. 21, and ends with the late 'Drei Fantasiestücke', Op. 111. The 'Abegg Variations,' dedicated by the young Schumann to Meta Abegg, a young pianist. The theme on which the variations are based is a literal tonal transcription of Mme. Abegg's name A-B-E-G-G (in non-German notation this would be A-B flat-E-G-G). (This theme has always sounded to me like the inversion of a theme in 'Carnaval' and indeed it is later itself inverted.) It starts with a rather simple statement of the theme in waltz rhythm and is followed by three virtuosic variations that tax all but the most skillful pianists. Fukuma manages them with aplomb as well as finely judged musicianship. One notes that in all these works Fukuma plays with less sustaining pedal than some pianists -- it's always a temptation to over-pedal Schumann's piano music -- and gains a crispness and clarity often missing in other performances.

The 'Novelletten' are eight short pieces which, reflecting their designation as 'Novellettes,' each seem to tell a story. It seems to me that in the second of these, 'Äusserst rasch and mit Bravour' ('Extremely fast and with bravura') Fukuma almost meets his match. There is some sense that his fingers almost get away from him. But the payoff is that this is an exciting traversal because of the inherent risk of the piece going off the rails. In the other Novellettes he seems to have the measure of Schumann's mixture of the two sides of his own personality, the Eusebius and Florestan personae that Schumann wrote so much about. Hence, my designation of this pianist having both 'poetry and fire.'

'Drei Fantasiestücke' ('The Fantasy Pieces') were written as Schumann was sliding into his final mental illness and they reflect his troubled state of mind. The three pieces are played without pause. The first piece is the most troubled, the second contains a lovely Schubertian melody that is interrupted by disturbing thoughts before the melody returns (ABA). The final piece is a march reminiscent of Schumann's Davidsbündler pieces and other earlier works, but decorated with mysterious arpeggios. Fukuma plays the work with insight and well-judged variation of tone.

This young man is definitely a pianist to watch. One looks forward to hearing him in recital, with orchestra, and on future recordings.

Scott Morrison

Melodiya Sviatoslav Richter Edition, Vol. 4: Schumann: Fantasiestucke, Op. 12, Nos. 1-3, 5, 7-8; Humoreske, Op. 20; Novelletten, Op, 21, Nos. 1-2, 8

Average customer rating:

Melodiya Sviatoslav Richter Edition, Vol. 4: Schumann: Fantasiestucke, Op. 12, Nos. 1-3, 5, 7-8; Humoreske, Op. 20; Novelletten, Op, 21, Nos. 1-2, 8

Manufacturer: Melodiya
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Tracks:

Fantasiestucke, Op.12: No.1 Des Abends
Fantasiestucke, Op.12: No.2 Aufschwung
Fantasiestucke, Op.12: No.3 Warum?
Fantasiestucke, Op.12: No.5 In Der Nacht
Fantasiestucke, Op.12: No.7 Traumes Wirren
Fantasiestucke, Op.12: No.8 Ende Vom Lied
Humoreske in B flat, Op.20: Einfach-Sehr Rasch Und Leicht-Wie Im Anfang
Humoreske in B flat, Op.20: Hastig-Nach Und Nach Immer Lebhafter Und Starker-Adagio
Humoreske in B flat, Op.20: Einfach Und Zart-Intermezzo-Innig
Humoreske in B flat, Op.20: Sehr Lebhaft-Mit Einigem Pomp-Zum Beschluss
Novelletten, Op.21: No.1 in F
Novelletten, Op.21: No.2 in D
Novelletten, Op.21: No.8 in f#

Amazon.com

Although Schumann was one of the composers Sviatoslav Richter played best, this is not the most essential disc of this series. This Moscow recording of the six pieces from Op. 12 (Richter always played the same six, leaving out two of the set) is no better or worse than the Prague recordings made at the same time and now available from Deutsche Grammophon. In either case, you do want to hear Richter play these pieces, especially the miraculous speed and clarity of Traumes-Wirren. Richter gave the most convincing performance of the radical Humoreske ever, but his concert recording is even more exciting than this fine studio version. On the other hand, these Novelletten apparently hadn't been issued before, so maybe this disc is essential after all. --Leslie Gerber

Robert Schumann: Carnaval,Op.9/Novelletten,Op.21

Average customer rating:

Sarah Bernhardt Plays the Piano

Robert Schumann: Carnaval,Op.9/Novelletten,Op.21

Manufacturer: Connoisseur Society
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000009JA8
Release Date: 1995-12-01

Customer Reviews:

Sarah Bernhardt Plays the Piano.......2004-03-04

Picture a middle-aged silent screen star leaning, half-collapsed, against a table, the back of one hand pressed tightly against her forehead, emoting for all she's worth. That's what the playing of Elizabeth Rich reminds me of. There's a lot of sighing, swooning, calling out in alarm, crying buckets of tears. This reminds me - sans the wrong notes - of the willful playing of Vladimir de Pachmann, the great pianist-ham of yore. In fairness, there is less chewing the scenery in the 'Novelettes' but in 'Carnaval' one hardly knows from one section to the next what is coming. There are languorous moments with wobbly tempi followed by flurries of notes that blur accents, harmonies, melodies.

Pass this one up, unless this old-fashioned and highly individual style of playing appeals to you.

Scott Morrison

Music Track: