Admired by Prokofiev, Ravel and Rachmaninov, a supporter of Martha Argerich, teacher to Philippe Cassard, Nikita Magaloff considerably enriched the history of piano music as he made his way through the last century. A performer of Chopin first and foremost, we find him here two works by Robert Schumann, the rare Allegro in B Minor op. 8, taken from a vast and unfinished sonata from his youth, and the Waldszenen op. 82, a major cycle from the end of his life, with bedazzled musical reflections on his daily walks through the Rhenish countryside. Made in 1957 and 1959, these recordings have about them a tone of deepest confidence. Magaloff seems to be unveiling the most secret part of the German composer in this dawn-to-dusk walk in the woods. No country was ever friendlier (Freundliche Landschaft) nor a bird-prophet (Vogel als Prophet) more poetic. This is an adult's technique with the soul of a child. © François Hudry/Qobuz