The Schumann Concerto stems from a 1943 New York Philharmonic broadcast, and it preserves Artur Schnabel’s artistry in a major work he otherwise did not record. As annotator Harris Goldsmith rightly states in his superb booklet notes, the performance proves a welcome corrective to the pianist’s erratic, sloppily played 1945 Los Angeles Philharmonic Schumann Concerto that circulated briefly on private LPs. Schnabel’s impassioned, forward-moving pianism grips your attention, notwithstanding moments of flustered chord playing in the first movement and rushed phrase endings in some of the finale’s tricky 16th-note patterns. The slow movement’s lyrical, conversational phrases pass back and forth between soloist and orchestra in harmonious accord. Here Monetux’s sensitive dynamic gradations and rounded string tuttis make a haunting effect. And no piano maven can fail to delight in Schnabel’s trademark trills–so feathery and infinitely shaded. The sound is quite good considering the recording’s vintage and provenance.
Dynamic constriction and distortion, however, heavily figure into the Schubert Trio (another work Schnabel didn’t commercially record), preserved from a broadcast onto fragile acetate discs by a private collector. Still, Maggi Payne’s remastering greatly improves over the LP edition brought out two decades ago by Music & Arts’ predecessor Discocorp. If you can listen past the sonic limitations, you’ll appreciate the ensemble’s rock-solid tempos, Schnabel’s buoyant, uplifting phrasing, a less wobbly, more tonally focused Szigeti than the norm for this period, and the young Pierre Fournier’s lithe, elegant sonority. All told, this release constitutes a substantial addition to Schnabel’s recorded legacy.
