| ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810 – 1856 )Kinderszenen Op.15 |
||
| 1 | Von Fremden Ländern und Menschen | 1. 35 |
| 2 | Kuriöse Geschichte | 1. 04 |
| 3 | Hasche-Mann | 0. 33 |
| 4 | Bittendes Kind | 0. 52 |
| 5 | Glückes genug | 1. 36 |
| 6 | Wichtige Begebenheit | 0. 54 |
| 7 | Träumerei | 3. 03 |
| 8 | Am Kamin | 1. 25 |
| 9 | Ritter vom Steckenpferd | 0. 43 |
| 10 | Fast zu ernst | 2. 05 |
| 11 | Fürchtenmädchen | 1. 47 |
| 12 | Kind im Einschlummern | 2. 05 |
| 13 | Der Dichter spricht | 2. 19 |
| JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833 – 1897) Paganini Variations Op.35 |
||
| 14 | Book I Thema – Variation 1 – 14 | 13. 58 |
| 15 | Book II Thema – Variation 1 – 14 | 11. 27 |
| Total playing-time: | 45. 50 | |

ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810 – 1856) Claudio Arrau- piano |
|
![]() |
|
![]() |
|
DO YOU RECOGNIZE THE MELODY? There cannot be many who have not heard – at least once in their life – that yearning melody of the “Träumerei” (= reverie) from Robert Schumann’s Kinderszenen, Op. 15 (= scenes from childhood, 1837/38). It has more or less become his musical “ID”. Originally, the Kinderszenen had been planned as an appendix to the Noveletten, entitled Kindergeschichten (= children’s stories). Schumann wrote as follows to Clara Wieck: “Es war mir ordentlich wie im Flügelkleide und hab’ da an die dreißig kleine putzige Dinger geschrieben ...” (= “I felt as if I were in pinafores again and then I penned about thirty quaint little things”). Subsequently, thirteen pieces were printed independently (probably for publishing reasons) as the Kinderszenen. Paganini’s spirit
|
“Collectors familiar with previous CD editions of these 1974 recordings may want to investigate PentaTone’s impressive surround-sound SACD transfers, where Claudio Arrau’s piano and the Concertgebouw’s superb acoustics embrace in a palpable three-dimensional ambience. Although Arrau inflects the Brahms Paganini Variations with liberal Luftpausen, italicized phrasing, and other emphatic touches, these devices never sound heavy-handed or labored, and always manage to clarify individual strands within the composer’s very full textures. As always with Arrau, ornaments occur on the beat, and his gorgeous, burnished tone never splinters.”
Jed Distler, ClassicsToday
“There is something unassuming rather than flashy in Arrau’s pianism, which in these two works he puts so clearly at the service of the composers’ very different intentions. The result is a disc that is simply a delight to hear.”
Infodad.com
“Claudio Arrau is the magician of these moments of grace. Re-hearing the Kinderszenen and the Paganini Variations under his fingers is a moment of absolute pleasure. In a four-channel remastering that gets the tone of an instrument, often denatured in CD editions, right as it was meant to be heard, this Super Audio CD is quite simply a must-have. It is a real jewel.”
Jean-Jacques Milo, Opus HD