Audiences, primarily in Europe and Asia, know
Fou Ts'ong for his performance of the works of
Chopin. This two-disc set of Schumann's piano music by
Fou actually sounds like
Chopin, which is good in some ways, but for the most part it does not make the best Schumann. The opening Arabesque sounds like a
Chopin Nocturne with its smooth, shapely lyricism.
Fou is an extremely expressive performer; however, his wide-ranging emotion tends to hamper Schumann's music and create an unfocused performance. Rubato and dynamic shading add expression to his phrasing, but they break up and divert attention from larger musical ideas. Schumann's Davidbündlerstänze, of course, are not really dances, but most of them still should have some feeling of dance.
Fou chooses to concentrate on the philosophical nature of the pieces, so it is extremely hard to sense an association with dance in any of them. Sometimes
Fou finds wonderfully lyrical melodies, but other times he seems to have a hard time deciding where the melody is or what to bring out as the more important musical line, particularly in pieces such as the "Ritter vom Steckenpferd" of the Kinderszenen, where Schumann has used interesting but tricky rhythmic devices. Topping it all off is a constrained sound to the recording, plus some distracting, extremely low growls under the louder portions of the Davidbündlerstänze.