John Dalmas writes:

>I agree with Michael to the extent it doesn't take a great deal of
>imagination to understand what Schumann is trying to evoke with the
>Kinderscenen, but the challenge to the interpreter is to express that
>comprehension with the taste and control to give a value suitable to
>them.  I for one am looking forward to Don's analysis.

I concur with John's views.  As so often, simple matters are not as
simple as they seem on the surface.  I think Schumann gets two bad raps
which are not deserved.  One is that his best music is too simple; the
other is that his 'late' music is not very inspiring.  However, Schumann's
high popularity among performers and audiences clearly indicates that
there's more to Schumann that meets the eye.

It will still be a few weeks before I'm ready to post Part 1 of my reviews
of recordings of Kinderszenen.  I am about half-way through the work but
find myself with perhaps an overload of current review projects.  Come to
think of it, I haven't posted any reviews in quite a few days.  I still
work on Bach and organ reviews.  However it happened, I somehow got totally
hooked on Scriabin's piano music and find its properties fascinating;
intonatsia and tension are intoxicating.  To add to my overload, I also am
zooming in on some Brahms and Schumann piano works.  Although it is all too
much, I'm having a great time listening to and even deciding which project
to delve into on a daily basis.  Prokofiev, Hindemith, Shostakovich, and
Reger piano works are next on my horizon, and I hope I have the patience to
not start in on those composers until I've finished up some reviews already
started.

For the hell of it, I added up all the review projects I have in some kind
of draft form(most with just the subject line typed in).  There are 87 of
them.  That might sound like a ridiculous number, but I have over 20 just
on the Pachelbel organ cycles from Dorian and Centaur that I acquired.  I
used to keep all my drafts on just one screen, but that got to be a pain.
Now I have five categories that fit my plans well:  Bach, organ, chamber,
piano, and 'other'.  When I get home from work, I decide which category
and project to get immersed in.  Also, I now have to keep discs in their
rightful storage spots so I can easily find the appropriate ones for the
day.  I do miss the 'scattered' approach to storage but don't intend to
spend whole evenings looking for particular recordings.

Sorry for the micro-ramblings, but MCML is the best place to express them
without getting beat up for my musical addictions.

Don Satz