Alone among the great composers for the piano, I am unable to appreciate
Robert Schumann.  I am a great admirer of the music of his contemporaries
Liszt, Brahms, and in particular Chopin.  In addition, I am an amateur
pianist and have played a few of Schumann's smaller pieces.  I have tried
long and hard to appreciate the music of Schumann, but I don't seem to be
able to "get it".

What I find in Schumann are some incredibly beautiful passages, but an
overall lack of cohesion and structure.  His large scale compositions
such as the Fantasy or Davidsbunderlantze (sp?) don't seem to tie together
at all.  They seem to me to be a collection of wonderful miniatures which
when put together make no collective sense.  Is there an overall message
Schumann is trying to convey with his large scale pieces or are they
instead a collection of random thoughts?

A comparison to Chopin may be helpful.  Some of Chopin's music, such as
his 2nd and 3rd sonatas, have been attacked as structurally weak.  I feel
that Chopin, however, unlike Schumann was able to remain apart from the
proceedings.  What I mean is that Chopin stands as an objective individual
observing how each part fits into the whole.  Schumann, on the other hand,
seems to get too involved, loses himself in the individual details and
loses sight of the overall picture.

I am fortunate to own some good performances of Schumann's piano music.  I
have 2 cds of Alfred Cortot on Pearl playing most of the major pieces with
the exception of the Fantasy.  I have spent much time over the past couple
of years listening to these Cortot recordings.  I also have Rachmaninoff
playing the Carnaval, and Horowitz playing the Fantasy, Blumenstuck and
Arabaseque.  I would like to hear Richter and Michelangeli in Schumann,
but I am reluctant to spend more money on a composer I don't seem to
understand or appreciate.

The one large scale Schumann piece I am able to appreciate somewhat is
the Carnaval (both the Cortot and Rachmaninoff versions).  Perhaps it
is because the titles of the pieces in the Carnaval serve as a built-in
program for me.  Sometimes Schumann's music strikes me a programmatic music
with the unfortunate lack of a program.  Again, however, I feel that even
the Carnaval is weak in overall structure.

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.

Regards,
Raghu Kakumanu