Schumann: Kreisleriana, Op. 16 (Grimaud)

One of Schumann’s greatest works: a set of highly musically compressed fantasies for solo piano, wild, erratic, impetuous, uneasy, tender. Most of Schumann’s trademarks are here: daring harmonic leaps, complex or misleading rhythms, unusual textures and sonorities, a resistance to easy cadential propulsion. Played with fantastic imagination and gusto by Grimaud, who revels in the virtuosic and dangerous subjectivity of these pieces. 00:00 -- 1. Äußerst bewegt (Extremely animated). A good herald of what is