Page 97 - FULL BOOK Isata Kanneh-Mason Childhood Tales

with the recent scholarship, look at what is 'call' and what is 'response', which is the 'front foot' of
the dance and which the 'back foot', things surely can get more interesting. In the slow opening
to K.379 in G major, for example, others such as Isabelle Faust and Alexander Melnikov, go
looking for far more depth and argument and drama and echo. And duly find it. And that is very
much the question which this set raises. Yes, there is grace, elegance, shape here, but also a
certain matter-of-factness. Capuҫon and Armstrong have found their way to “get Mozart done”. It
is not the only way. Sebastian Scotney

Schumann & Brahms Benjamin Grosvenor (piano) (Decca)

th
This is a terrific collection; I’m no pianist and will freely admit that much 19 century keyboard
repertoire scares me. Schumann’s eight-movement Kreisleriana holds no terrors for me in
Benjamin Grosvenor’s performance, largely because he’s so good at bringing out each chapter's
character. There’s passion, drama and humour in spades, Grosvenor drawing us in so that the
work’s 35 minutes pass in the blink of an eye. “Sehr innig und nicht zu rasch” unfolds like a single
movement sonata. Schumann’s faster numbers are bold and ooze personality, sparks flying in
No. 7. The last section’s payoff is superb, the music evaporating into thin air. Grosvenor also
throws in several shorter pieces, including the lovely Blumenstück and the finale of Schumann’s