Page 82 - FULL BOOK Isata Kanneh-Mason Childhood Tales

24 May 2023

A fun new release from Isata Kanneh-Mason out on Decca

later this week unites Debussy’s Children’s Corner and
Schumann’s Kinderszehen with Dohnanyi’s Variations on a
Nursery Song under the title of ‘Childhood Tales’.

Debussy’s well-loved suite of six solo piano pieces paints
evocative pictures fronted by Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum – a
short piece that tests the pianist’s virtuosity and fluidity at the
keyboard. My recollections of tackling the piece when I was

studying piano as a teenager prompt me to conclude that there is
really only one way to play this and that’s as fast as possible –

slow, sedate and thorough really doesn’t cut it. Isata breathes life
into the two minute virtuosic excursion. The fourth movement –
The Snow is Dancing – is a captivating musical picture.

The Schumann Kinderszenen collection of 13 miniature pieces is

packed full of recognisable melodies. Isata brings a youthful
freshness to the most well-known like Von fremden Landern und
Menschen and Bittendes Kind, successfully avoiding self-