Schumann: Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54

Album review

The French pianist Monique Haas (1909-1987) has already recorded this Concerto by Schumann twice: in 1951 with the Berlin Philharmonic and Jochum, and again three years later with this same Jochum and the Bavarian Radio. So when she stepped up to the microphone – this was a studio recording – a third time with the Stuttgart Radio Orchestra with Hans Müller-Kray in 1956, she was developing familiar material. But for all that, it was really in the more contemporary repertoires that Monique Haas really made a name for herself on the world stage. Bartók, Debussy, Hindemith, Stravinsky, Ravel, Marcel Mihalovici (who was her husband, incidentally): in other words, composers who by and large worked during her lifetime. Her splendidly spontaneous reading of Schumann packs a few punches here and there — perhaps the freshness of the piece was to do with its being a live recording for radio. Listeners will note the magnificent transparency of her playing. A very fine piece from the archives. © SM/Qobuz