Completed early in 1838, Schumann’s eight Novelletten form the biggest and arguably the most challenging of his piano cycles. They represent the composer at his most restless: most of the pieces are dark-hued scherzos and the predominant mood is one of extreme alienation, from which moments of respite seem illusory or brief. The demands of sustaining the strenuous emotional pitch over the work’s 50-minute span are such that it’s rarely performed whole, either in concert or on disc. Danny Driver, however, who is going from strength to strength at the moment, turns in a powerhouse performance on his new Schumann album, playing with great technical prowess, and admirably alert to the fluctuations of mood and feeling within the prevailing intensity of the whole. His subtle, deeply felt reading of the melancholy Nachtstücke of 1839 provides contrast and relief, and the recital closes with the calm Romanze in F sharp, exquisitely done. Recommended.
