"...I'm busying myself very intensely with Schumann. I'm a very great admirer of Schumann. And there is a great deal left to be done. Composers like Mozart, Beethoven or Bach must be interpreted and played again and again, but they have been long accepted. Schubert is a borderline case, and in my opinion, Schumann is on the whole not yet accepted, hardly anyone appreciates his late works.
There are so many clichés. I consider it a mission, to clear away these clichés, like the one that he had gone insane, or that he had badly orchestrated -- that is all nonsense! Schumann didn't orchestrate badly, his music is very badly conducted! One must leave every note just as he wrote it, and not re-orchestrate or rewrite it. One must experiment properly and find a balance, an equilibrium. I know of no work by Schumann, that is not wonderful -- so inspiring. With all due respect and all love due to Brahms, I must say, that for me, Schumann is the more ingenious composer. Brahms is the better composer, he has left really nothing behind, that is not entirely tip-top; he demonstrates a tremendous mastery of craftsmanship, fantastic! But with Schumann there is this burning inventiveness, this simply unbelievable inspiration. Naturally you have that with Brahms as well, like for example in his first Piano Concerto, that he worked on for an insanely long time. I perceive this volcanic inventiveness. But, nonetheless, not in all of his works."
Send
us Mail