Benno Moiseiwitsch plays Schumann Symphonic Etudes Op.13 (live 1961)

Benno Moiseiwitsch (1890 - 1963), was a Ukrainian-born British pianist. He was particularly known for his interpretations of the late Romantic repertoire, especially the works of Sergei Rachmaninoff. Moiseiwitsch was noted for his elegance, poetry, lyrical phrasing, brilliance, rhythmic freedom, and relaxed virtuosity.
Robert Schumann (1810 - 56)
Symphonic Etudes Op.13
00:00 Theme
01:21 Variation 1
02:30 Variation 2
05:36 Etude III : Vivace
06:54 Variation 3
07:34 Variation 4
08:55 Variation 5
09:53 Variation 6
11:12 Variation 7
12:28 Etude IX
13:24 Variation 8
14:47 Variation 9
16:16 Finale
Recorded in 1961

[@steveegallo3384]

Astounding! In Variation 9, it sounds at times like "for two pianos"....BRAVO!!

[@_PROCLUS]

Thank you very much for this, dear Margo Beloved

[@zvezdinki7998]

Yes, good performance

[@MrInterestingthings]

Moisewitsch is a master in Schumann -he knew many secrets of the pedal and had the fingers to do things with pedal not easily done or figured out,discovered . I know he must have recorded this great work earlier ! He plays it like orchestral musicVar.7 suffers with this heavy-handed approach. The wrong basses in Var.2 are offputting .Var.3 benefits from a quiet left h.melody and even quiter r.h. but Moisewitsch like Annie Fischer are beligerent all thru this score all throughout gives a War castle -robust reading of this music . It's not fantasy music for Benno.Rubinstein Ashkenazy and Schiff and Zimmerman & many others disagree .

[@ProfDrislane]

It's clear that this recording represents a Moiseiwitsch who isn't in the best of health, and there are certainly a few moments of incoherence, and wrong notes. On the other hand, we have a grand 19th century, highly personal and poetic style represented here which is quite special. As with the traditional cut in the finale of the Tchaikovsky Trio, Moiseiwitsch makes a cut. But before we get "up in arms" about this, let's remember that this sort of thing was a very common among the old players, and may even come from Clara Schumann or one of her disciples. I have long preferred this performance to the "Soviet Modernist" style of Richter, which has about as much to do with a 19th aesthetic as Sputnik..