Word: schumann
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...never been busier. This fall she sings Mozart at the Met (The Marriage of Figaro, Idomeneo) while preparing a January recital for Lincoln Center at which James Levine will accompany her. She has recently released two classical albums: songs by Aaron Copland (with baritone Thomas Hampson), and lieder by Schumann, Schubert, Wolf and Mozart, with texts by Goethe, accompanied by pianist Richard Goode. Due out in October is a record that shows yet another departure: music from Eastern Europe with the Kronos Quartet...
...Schumann brings intensely emotional playing, but also bad memories such as the beginning of the fourth movement, where Laredo and Stern both lose the string of their solo 16th-notes by the end of their runs. I wouldn't want the quartet to take a slower tempo, but I got the impression that they were flying blind--they didn't know for sure whether they could really pull...
True, the playing in the Schumann was emotionally engaging, but I found the recording in its entirety to be remarkably free of real musical tension. The tempi were upright, and as a result, there was little momentum in either the forward or reverse directions. The individual playing was impressive, but I didn't find myself entirely convinced by the final product. By no means was I expecting tear-jerking renditions, but I did expect a recording that was more engaging than this...
...solo parts made me think he was playing cadenzas for some Romantic concerti; when the rest of the continuo (which they might rightly be called) come back in, you're left wondering where the rest of the orchestra went. In the fervid parts of the Schumann, their sound had none of the immediacy...
...whole, I think that better recordings can be had for at least the Schumann. I'm sure that these four musicians enjoy getting together to read chamber works, but they'll have trouble competing against today's better groups and the classic historical recordings of the last 50 years. I would much sooner pick up the Busch Quartet with Rudolf Serkin, the Guarneri Quartet with Artur Rubinstein or the contemporary recordings by the Cleveland Quartet and Brian's upcoming favorites, Domus...