ROBERT SCHUMANN: “SYMPHONIC” ETUDES; “ARABESKE”; TOCCATA. Sergei...

ROBERT SCHUMANN: “SYMPHONIC” ETUDES; “ARABESKE”; TOCCATA. Sergei Edelmann, piano. RCA Red Seal ARL 1-5365. This is the first recording of a brilliant young pianist from the Ukraine who is not yet a master musician. His fingers fly, he makes the piano roar and there is a great engine driving his playing in passages of power or agitation. It is the softer passages, such as prevail in the “Arabeske,” that suffer. Edelmann either impatiently forces flame into them, pushing the tempos and injuring the character of the piece, or lapses into limpid playing where his rhythm loses vigor.