Schumann: Scenes from Childhood; Janacek: On the Overgrown Path, Book 1

Marc-Andre Hamelin presents a fascinating juxtaposition of two composers who are not obviously musically related, but who are proved on this album to be a felicitous combination. Schumann's Kinderszenen is a masterpiece and a staple of the concert repertoire. Each piece is as deftly and exquisitely crafted as anything in his more outwardly sophisticated mode. Waldszenen is another collection of miniatures, and Schumann's last major cycle for solo piano. This deeply Romantic work is no objective foray into the woods, but a very personal reaction to an imagined landscape. Over half a century separates Waldszenen from the first book of Janacek s On the overgrown path. Janacek's subject matter is darker and the piano writing is more treacherous, but the result is one of the composer's most profound and disturbing compositions.