Throughout this Schumann recital, the Belgian-Israeli pianist Edna Stern never leaves you in doubt of her love for her chosen composer. You re-experience Schumann’s kaleidoscopic Romanticism, his freeing of every impulse; above all, these performances feel ‘live’ even if recorded under studio conditions. Never for a minute are you made aware of the world of green and red lights, of an artificial ambience.

At the same time, Stern’s playing invites a variety of questions or qualifications. In Carnaval her opening ‘Préambule’ lacks the boldness of Schumann’s declamation – if ‘Eusebius’ dreams, he should not be lost in reverie. Even in introspection there should be a surer sense of direction. But ‘Coquette’ winks and pirouettes delightfully and in ‘Chiarina’ Stern leaves you in no doubt of the identity of the beloved Clara, while passion is reserved for ‘Estrella’, representing Ernestine von Fricken, Schumann’s first fiancée. There is real exultance in David’s triumph over the Philistines (the popular but empty note-spinners of the time). Throughout, the playing is involving.

The performance of the Intermezzo from Faschingsschwank aus Wien (Schumann’s ‘other’ Carnaval) makes you long for the rest, while the occasional quibble in Kinderszenen in no way invalidates an overall success. I can imagine a more mischievously pointed accentuation in ‘Hasche-Mann’, and if ‘Ritter vom Steckenpferd’ is too gentle, this is a welcome alternative to the temptation for greater violence. In ‘Träumerei’, ‘Am Kamin’ and most of all ‘Kind im Einschlummern’ you are always conscious of childhood seen through adult eyes, of bittersweet memories. Finally, we have Edna Stern’s own To‑nal or not to‑nal, where several composers, including Brahms and Schumann, surface through painful questioning.

In sum, even with a catalogue bursting with celebrated Schumann albums, Edna Stern’s has a special and endearing quality.

This review originally appeared in the SPRING 2025 issue of International Piano