This substantial feast of Schumann has to whet the appetite,
but enters a catalogue richly populated in great names from
the piano world. Vladimir Ashkenazy has been a staple on Decca
for many years with his survey of the entire piano works, and
individual players such as Maurizio Pollini, Murray Perahia
and Alfred Brendel all have their claims staked. I’ve compared
with a couple of other Eastern Bloc pianists for the sake of
narrowing down the field a little and getting us orientated
somewhat, but make no claims to know what the definitive ‘best’
recording of these pieces might be.
Ukrainian-born, Sergei Edelmann arrived in the United States
of America in 1979, soon making a name for himself in the concert
and festival
circuit, and more recently through recordings of Beethoven,
Liszt, Schubert and Chopin on the Triton label. His piano sound
is not quite as rich as that heard for instance with Abdel Rahmen
El Bacha from the same label but from different locations, but
is still good enough. Triton doesn’t go in for surround-sound
SACD, the enhanced layer is a high quality stereo. In this case
an increase in volume above the norm helps beef out the texture,
but while the sound isn’t brittle or fatiguing the bass is lighter
in comparison with the treble in terms of balance, which may
be due to any number of factors. The trade-off is in terms of
clarity, in which this recording is pretty unbeatable.
Edelmann’s Schumann is very fine indeed. He kicks off the programme
with a very imposing and high-impact reading of the Fantasy
in C major Op.17. His sense of the poetry in the music is
different to that of Brendel in his earlier recording on Vanguard
Classics and now on the Alto label (see review),
heightening the contrast between the poetic thinner textured
moments by stretching the tempi more, and driving forward with
greater urgency as the dynamics rise. The nobility in the second
movement is expressed well, and focus and sense of form and
direction are rarely compromised by the technical demands of
the writing. The final Lento sostenuto e sempre piano is
given a tenderness which more than adequately expresses Schumann’s
message of love and forlorn hope.
The Arabesque in C major Op.18 is more than just a filler,
and Edelmann ponders thoughtfully on the work’s intimate little
hesitations and repetitions to good effect. He might have pondered
a little more on the tempo, which is a little on the slow and
heavy side – coming in at 7:47 compared to Freddy Kempf on BIS-CD-960
at 6:07. Kempf is arguably a little too hasty sounding, but
his traversal tends to even out Schumann’s creative hiatuses
in the opening rather than highlighting them. Edelmann speeds
up a little later on, and this is still a fine performance although
one which doesn’t provide all the answers.
The Symphonic Etudes Op. 13 is one of Schumann’s most
ambitious early projects, and Sergei Edelmann pulls no punches,
reminding me a little of Russian pianist Dmitri Alexeev, whose
recording appears in a budget EMI 2CD set with some very good
Brahms recordings. Both of these protagonists are usually good
at bringing out the lightness in the etudes, though Edelmann’s
dynamic contrasts are harder hitting. Perhaps the most revealing
of Russian recordings is that by Sviatoslav Richter, now available
on Alto ALC1136. His playing ultimately strikes the best balance
between the inner life of the theme as it ‘lives’ in each variation,
as well as delivering an uncompromisingly breathtaking pianistic
performance. Edelmann is good too, but the balance between harmonic,
accompanying notes and the melodic lines which need to be able
to sing out from within, above or below them, isn’t always quite
as convincing. This is spectacular pianism, but the inspiration
is more in the playing than it the music – an intangible kind
of point to make, but when you put Edelmann right against Richter
in an A/B comparison the ‘ah’ moment is instant.
In no way do I wish to dismiss Sergei Edelmann as an also-ran
in this powerfully performed Schumann recital, but neither the
sonics nor the musicianship make this disc stand out particularly
from the masses of competition against which it has to be compared.
If the attraction of having these works together on a single
nicely recorded SACD hybrid disc rides above all other considerations
then I suspect few will be disappointed by this release. For
myself I will always have that nagging thought at the back of
my mind that other, ultimately more satisfying truths are to
be had.
Dominy Clements
Sergei Edelmann (piano) 
[79:28] 
