Search - Discovering Masterpieces of Classical Music: Schumann on DVD

An Explanatory Documentary and an Incandescent Performance o

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 12/04/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The performance on this DVD is the same one as on a concert DVD from the same artists: Schumann: Piano Concerto/Symphony No. 4 - Martha Argerich/Gewandhausorchester/Riccardo Chailly. The difference between them is that the concert DVD contains not only Schumann's piano concerto but also his Fourth Symphony plus his Adagio & Allegro brillante (arr. Tchaikovsky), 'Von fremden Ländern und Menschen' (encore, Argerich), and Four Pieces from 'Carnaval' (arr. Maurice Ravel for orchestra), and the present DVD presents only the Schumann Concerto but also includes a thirty-minute documentary on the concerto. So the reason to buy this one -- which is approximately the same price as the other DVD, at least at present -- is that one wants an analysis of the concerto plus information about Schumann and the origins and history of the concerto. I did learn some things about the concerto that I did not know -- and I'm very familiar with the work, having studied it in my playing days -- but I imagine the prospective buyer would need to factor in how much he or she wants to learn about it.

The performance, of course, is superb. Argerich is in top form and the Gewandhaus under their then-new conductor, Riccardo Chailly, play like angels. I was particularly struck by the lovely playing of the principal clarinetist; sometimes, among clarinetists, this work is known, humorously, as the Schumann Clarinet Concerto because of the importance of its part. I wrote a lengthier note about the concerto in my review for the concert disc mentioned above.

Picture Format: NTSC - 16:9; Sound: PCM stereo, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1; Languages: English, German, French, Spanish; Region: 0 (worldwide); Disc format: DVD 5; Timings: Documentary - 28 mins; Performance - 35 mins

Scott Morrison"