Leif Ove Andsnes - Schumann: Piano Sonata No.1, Fantasie in C major (1997)

Schumann's F-sharp Minor Sonata is a hard nut to crack, but the young Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes does better than most. He pounces upon the quirky rhythmic ambiguities, clarifying and varying knotty textures with felicitous voicings. His detailing, however, never becomes fussy or discontiguous. The thickest chords resonate more tellingly than in the streamlined Pollini and Perahia recordings. Andsnes plunges into the Fantasy's murky waters, savoring but never dwindling over every harmonic and contrapuntal nicety. Some may prefer less intervention and more inwardness in the last movement, but a first-class, musicianly mind is clearly at work. Schumann lovers should snap this one up posthaste. -- Jed Distler