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Rating: If it is true that the piano is the romantic instrument (in both the extrinsic and intrinsic meaning of the word) par excellence, it is no wonder that it became the primary expressive medium of the quintessential romantic musician: Robert Schumann. He fully expressed the cultural movement of the nineteenth century, both in his biography (a fairly troubled life that ended in an asylum at the age of 46) and in his artistic production. This, like that of other protagonists of the era, primarily in the literary field, can be described as a continuous attempt to escape from real life towards the knowledge and conquest of an imaginary higher life. Despite every effort to attain it, such an attempt is destined to remain utterly futile: hence the descent into yearning and melancholy caused by the failure of said attempt, and the retreat into the memory of an indefinite golden age lost in the mists of a distant past, or more simply in the reminiscences of a childhood age almost transfigured into a sort of Eden-like kingdom.
This yearning and melancholy are supremely interpreted, in this CD, by Mr. Sviatoslav Richter, one of the pillars of 20th-century piano interpretation. The yearning and melancholy seep into the listener's ear from the initial theme of the "Symphonic Studies" and accompany him to the conclusion of the composition: a composition characterized by superb cascades of notes and moments of absolute lyricism, "the impetuousness of Sturm und Drang and introspective explorations of Lutheran solitude", as Giorgio Pestelli writes in his splendid book "Gli Immortali"; all in line with that romantic dualism presented at the beginning and here perfectly sublimated. In this sense, such a masterpiece can be easily counted among the most significant achievements of 19th-century piano music, equal to and perhaps surpassing the twin Chopin or Transcendental Lisztian studies.
The subsequent "Colorful Pages", although not an equally well-known collection, enchant the listener just as profoundly: brief and concise, they gently take us by the hand and lead us into the emotional world of the composer, among the ghosts of a madness unfortunately always looming and the laughing, happy shadows of children absorbed in their innocent games. And then the final escape... "In the Night", one of the two "Fantasiestücke" that closes this marvelous recording: but it is not a dark and stormy night, rather a place of the soul where one meditates and rejuvenates from the toil of daily life. In this case, the performance is live, to rightly honor the technique and absolute expressiveness of Sviatoslav Richter, the supreme interpreter of this wonderful music. And it is fitting that all critics with a capital "C" celebrate it (unlike myself!) when in July they will commemorate the 150th anniversary of the death of its composer, an authentic poet of the piano who always sends shivers down one's spine every time he is listened to attentively.
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