Michel Block first made headlines as a contestant in the 1960 International Chopin Competition in Warsaw. Displeased with the verdicts of his fellow jurors, Artur Rubinstein invented a prize on the spot and awarded it himself to the young pianist. Block’s years in the international spotlight were followed by a long teaching stint at Indiana University in Bloomington. During the 1980s Block withdrew from performing and made a weird series of studio recordings featuring standard repertoire played at ridiculously slow tempos. Happily, there are no eccentricities to be had in these big-boned and vibrant live 1980 performances of Schumann’s Eight Novelettes. Block is fully tuned in to the music’s volatile mood swings, while at the same time allowing Schumann’s gnarly patterns to soar like a kite in a gentle stream of warm, directional wind. The Debussy encores glide from Block’s hands with delectable character, and he puts heart and soul into his own arrangement of a song by the popular French chanteuse Barbara. The recorded sound is not bad for an archival tape, but lacks the warm bottom and colorful midrange of Arrau’s classic studio traversal of the Schumann cycle. Still and all, highly recommended.
