When these recordings of
Schumann's Fantasy in C major and his Symphonic Studies were released in 1966, Austrian pianist
Alfred Brendel was not quite past his "I'm a super virtuoso" phase and not quite into his "I'm a poet of the piano" phase. This means that these two terrifically difficult pieces here are dispatched with aplomb: the Fantasy's March's tremendously taxing coda is played without a note out of place, and the etudes' penultimate study is performed without a rhythm out of sync. But it also means that there's nothing much here except extraordinary technical skill. Listeners looking for longing in the Fantasy or mystery in the etudes are likely to be disappointed. There were better recordings of both works available at the time -- one thinks immediately of
Richter's epic Fantasy -- and
Brendel himself later made better recordings of both works for Philips, so it's hard to see what purpose is served by re-releasing these except to allow
Brendel's most dedicated admirers to collect all his recordings. The stereo sound is dry, dim, and a bit clattery in the climaxes.