Piano sonatas 1 & 2

Description

Following a first album devoted to Schumann, Carnaval, released in 2012 on Decca Classics, Italian pianist Maurizio Baglini returns to the music of the German Romantic composer. This new album is part of the pianist’s ambitious recording project, which aims to record Schumann’s complete piano works over the next 10 years. The program offers the first two piano sonatas, Op. 11 and 22, paired with the Toccata Op. 7 and the Presto passionato, originally conceived as the finale of Sonata Op. 22. “The two sonatas and the Toccata bring out a modern and restless feeling, where lyrical flashes and intimate folds alternate with the expression of visceral passion and virtuosity with exaggerated runs. He [Schumann, ed.] is considered the quintessential Romantic spirit, but I perceive him as extremely contemporary,” explains Maurizio Baglini. The pianist displays astonishing interpretive maturity and a profound understanding of Schumann’s music on this album, foreshadowing a cycle of recordings that will surely mark an important milestone.