Schumann - Piano Concerto [Vogt/Rattle-City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra]I'm liking this Concerto more and more, i've always thought of Schumann's Concerto as the weaker of this pairing, but it's only because the Grieg is so phenomenally good, the Schumann Concerto is quite possibly the best thing he ever wrote.
If Grieg and Schumann are a nice coupling, then Vogt and Rattle are too, it's nice to see Rattle coaxing the best out of young instrumentalists.
I love the freewheeling first movement, it's very much in the vein of a Fantasy, and can stand alone as a statement by itself, i must admit that the very opening attack is just done too quick [0:00-0:09], it just sounds so rushed, a third of the way in, there's this languid and flowing melody on the piano, it could easily be lifted from any lovely slow movement, gently rippling piano in the left hand, and a clarinet in a gorgeous dialogue [4:36-6:13], this is the highlight of the first movement, right at the very end there's some busy woodwind work, while the piano has some busy work in the background of its own [14:12-15:11], a very satisfying bustle of an ending.
Here's Amir Katz playing the first movement on YouTube.
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