A pianist and performer of the same calibre as Gilels or Richter, the great Elisabeth Leonskaja still struggles to be recognised for her true worth. Do we need to mention the Russian school of piano in connection to her work? It seems that we do, as she jokes that she has “her own republic”, balancing her Russian training and her adopted city of Vienna where she has lived for over forty years.
This beautiful studio album is entirely devoted to Robert Schumann, recorded in Bremen (Germany) in 2018 and 2019. Her sound immediately captivates you, the sound emanating from her piano, smooth and buttery, adorned with nostalgic touches and autumnal colours. We find Schumann's works here, at the height of her artistic career.
The Etudes symphoniques seem to dream of a world accessible only by the force of thought, the Variations Abegg already captures the essence of Schumann’s hopes and anxieties, the brilliant and colourful Papillons dancing in the sky, the two Sonates Op. 11 and Op. 22 contain a romanticism that is more tender and humane than dishevelled, this splendid double album also contains the Posthumous Variations and the rarer Geistervariationen (“Variations of the Spirits”) dedicated to Clara, Schumann’s last work, composed some ten days before he attempted suicide by throwing himself into the Rhine. Drenched in melancholy, the pieces play on reminiscence and sound like Schumann’s final farewell to music before he ended his life miserably in a mental asylum, two years later. © François Hudry/Qobuz