The Young Schumann in Bloomington, MN

Pianist
Charles Owen
has experimented using historical instruments in performing music by
Schumann
and
Schubert
. He does not do so on this 2024 release, but the impact of historical performance is audible in these sensitive performances.
in the first part of his career was quite a virtuoso, but that doesn't mean that his music, like
Liszt
's, was always written for performance on a grand scale. A set like
Carnaval, Op. 9
is easy to transfer to a modern grand with its abrupt contrasts of mood, but grand is not the only way to approach it. All the pieces here have been recorded often enough, although the
Intermezzi, Op. 4
are not as common as they should be. The daring development-off-the-dissonance at the beginning of the first piece here works very well in
Owen
's reading, and the shades of characterization in
Carnaval
and in the
Papillons, Op. 2
. Throughout, there's a feeling of an inward
, making leaps and bounds forward both musically and imaginatively, and this is true even in the composer's first published piece, the
Variations on the Name Abegg, Op. 1
, which in
's hands makes a strong finale. A fresh set of readings that will be valued by
enthusiasts. ~ James Manheim