Raghu Kakumanu <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Alone among the great composers for the piano, I am unable to appreciate
>Robert Schumann. ...  I would like to appreciate and understand this
>composer much better.  Am I completely missing something here? Or perhaps
>I need to appreciate Schumann on a different level than I am attempting.
>Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Try listening to young British pianist Freddy Kempf's debut CD of
Schumann's piano works (Carnaval, Humoreske, Arabeske and Toccata) recently
released on BIS, and you're in for a nice surprise...  and a real treat!

In a time when glittery surface artifices, flashy fireworks and glamour
seem to matter more than heart and soul, Robert Schumann might seem like an
unlikely choice for a debut recording by a modern-day young virtuoso
pianist.

Yet, 21-year-old Freddy Kempf - blessed with a fierce intelligence,
colourful imagination, incredible fingers and, of course, fresh youthful
inspiration - proves otherwise as he demonstrates a rare and remarkable
gift for illuminating the darkest abyss of the Romantic composer's troubled
genius.

Throughout all 72 minutes of this astonishing debut disc, he approaches
this well-loved repertoire with the most refreshing and exuberant spirit of
adventure, graced by fancy, charm and interpretative wisdom, and always
penetrating to the music's innermost, Germanic heart.

Lionel Choi
Singapore
http://www.singnet.com.sg/~lionelc/dummies.html