Schubert: Wanderer-Fantasie; Schumann / Clifford Curzon
Curzon's performance of Schumann'sFantasy in C, initially released in 1954, remains among the greatest ever recorded. Instead of the stormy theatricality usually heard, the composer's direction that the first movement "be performed very imaginatively and passionately" makes the British pianist respond with a sense of chivalric ardor, no less passionate for all its nobility. Sonorousness is combined with tenderness; attention to detail with grandeur of proportion; and dramatic urgency with meditative lyricism. The majestic second movement march unfolds with unobtrusive power and unflagging rhythm. The Elysian final movement can sound repetitious in less-than-loving hands. But Curzon uses his command of shading, variety of touch, and knowledge of bel canto phrasing to create a sense of rapturous intoxication. He was as happy in miniatures as in large structures. Curzon's magical performance of the same composer's "Kinderszenen" suggests--in its delicacy of color, its exquisite textures, and its heartfelt (and difficult to achieve) simplicity of expression--the best Mozart. His distinguished reading of Schubert's "Wanderer" Fantasy is heard here in a better-sounding transfer than on thevolume dedicated to himin Philips's "Great Pianists" series.--Stephen Wigler