NEWS

 

EXCELLENT REVIEW FOR NEW SCHUMANN RECORDINGS

28th July 2006

Finghin is delighted to reprint here a review from the July / August edition of "International Record Review" magazine: 

International Record Review, July / August 2006

Schumann Volume 1. New
Allegro in B minor, Op. 8. Acht Fantasiestücke, Op. 12. Kinderszenen, Op. 15. Arabeske in C, Op. 18. Blumenstück in D flat, Op. 19. Humoreske in B flat, Op. 20. Drei Romanzen, Op. 28. Waldszenen, Op. 82. Drei Fantasiestücke, Op. 111.

Finghin Collins (piano).

Claves 50-2601/02 (full price, two discs, 2 hours 29 minutes).
Website www.claves.ch.
Producer Johannes Kammann.
Engineer Ines Beckmann. 
Dates August 18th-26th, 2005.

Comparisons: 
Humoreske: 
Richter (Preiser) PR95003 (1956, two discs)
(Melodiya) 74321 29460-2 (1956, ten discs)
Waldszenen: 
Arrau (Philips) 420 871-2 (1972, deleted)

I have the feeling that this release could well represent something of a breakthrough for the young Irish pianist Finghin Collins, who turns 30 next year. His name has been one to watch for some time, but unlike some of his contemporaries he has not been particularly well represented on disc. This may perhaps be because Collins has resisted attempts to cast him in any sort of specialist bracket: his few recordings up to now embrace Mozart, Rachmaninov and Gerry Murphy (formerly his teacher), while his current concert repertoire includes not only Mozart but concertos by Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Chausson. Collins also performs a great deal of chamber music in partnership with colleagues, some of it quite adventurous - I note a performance of Penderecki's recent Sextet at the West Cork Festival this year. Such versatility can be a source only of strength, not least when it comes to Schumann, who demands such a kaleidoscopic range of moods and techniques and an easy identification with poetic and personal images. Famously, Schumann borrowed the idea of the twin aspects of human personality from Jean-Paul Richter, invented his own twin personages of Florestan and Eusebius and put them in musical dialogue with each other, to represent the twin poles of introversion and extroversion. Or, as we might now say, to put himself in touch with the feminine as well as the masculine side of himself, and ourselves. 

The triumph of Collins's playing is that he realizes this dichotomy marvellously, in playing of great poetic warmth twinned with necessary outbursts of Sturm und Drang, and whimsy and poignancy and melancholy and much else. This Claves double album is billed as Volume 1, so presumably we can expect more, and he has left himself some Everests to climb, in the shape of the C major Fantasie, Carnaval and Faschingsschwank aus Wien, among others. But the present selection will do very nicely as an opener, and as an anniversary present to Schumann, who died on July 29th, 1856. The pieces included here actually span some 20 years, from the Allegro in B minor of 1831 to the three late Fantasiestücke, Op. 111 of 1851; but Schumann found his voice early on and the language hardly changes. Quite apart from the comparisons listed above, I have also checked out some of my other Schumann recordings, and I feel that Collins has little to fear from other pianists, including the best. He has the further advantage that he is wonderfully well recorded, in a studio in Lausanne, so that his touch comes across as beautifully even and controlled. (The translation of the notes is the only slight blemish  Schumann was "befriended with Mendelssohn", we learn, while I still have not quite fathomed the "dormant waters" that appear a bit later.) 

At this level, quibbles are more a matter of taste than anything else. In the first of the big pieces, the Op. 12 Fantasiestücke, "Grillen" is substantially slower than usual. Yet there is nothing wrong with Collins's fingers, since "Traumes Wirren" a little later is delightfully athletic and mercurial. Incidentally, he includes the short ninth piece that Schumann discarded: you can see why, as it sounds almost unfinished and anyway feels wrong after "Ende vom Lied". The Op. 20 Humoreske has always been a personal favourite ever since I encountered Richter's version on an old Parlophone LP (PMA 1044): I have listed a couple of reissues of this classic version from the 1950s only because Richter demonstrated magisterial control of the architecture of this marvellous and neglected work, resolutely refusing to characterize it as a sequence of fragmented miniatures. Collins, too, clearly believes in it wholeheartedly, and his performance is one to cherish: my comments above, about encompassing an almost bewildering variety of moods, apply especially here. 

On the second disc, Kinderszenen has just that quality of inner restraint, almost self-communion, that only the best Schumann players achieve. Arrau was one such and he has long been another favourite in Waldszenen, peerless in his responsiveness, humour and sense of caprice: Collins matches him, though, and only one piece, "Herberge", comes across as just a tiny bit prosaic. The "Vogel als Prophet" in the same set (the ultimate Eusebius-moment) is, as always, deeply touching. And just to round things off, the long final piece of the three Op. 28 Romanzen, which starts as a powerful march but veers off into extended flights of fancy, has all the dashing vigour one requires of the youthful Florestan. This is a fine new release, and all Schumann enthusiasts should sit up and take notice of a rare talent. 

Piers Burton-Page (www.recordreview.co.uk)