I must confess, I’ve always found the sort of music on this CD very difficult to absorb, through absolutely no fault of its own, I hasten to add. It’s easier to assimilate the bizarre incongruities and, for some listeners at least, the longueurs of a Bruckner or Mahler symphony than the Whitmanesque 'multitudes' of what I used to regard as Schumann’s meandering ruminations and kaleidoscopic mood swings. Hough is one of those artists who are barely capable of producing a dud note, let alone anything longer and I found that for a recent convert to this musical milieu, Hough is probably the ideal mentor.
All three works here were composed at a particularly turbulent period of Schumann’s life (even by his extreme standards) tortured by his traditional demons with the additional and apparently doomed love for Clara Wieck. I mean it as the highest form of compliment and hope that it’s not drawing too long a bow to say that that Hough’s reaction to this often-extreme music is similar to that of Bernard Haitink in his treatment of Mahler’s symphonies.
This is no 'less is more' or 'art that conceals art' verdict. Here, it’s seen to optimum effect in the second movement of the Fantasie (sublime in practically anyone’s hands) where Hough’s handling of the virtuosic finale is more impressive for its subtle restraint in the brilliant energetic march, the whimsical middle section with its wealth of syncopation and virtual scherzando spirit, and the sheer panache of the dazzlingly effective coda. Likewise, the short fortissimo outbursts of the last movement which seem to indicate fullness and completion rather than violence.
Kreisleriana’s phantasmagoria calls for more diablerie to encompass Schumann’s depiction of ETA Hoffmann’s deranged 'hero'. Some will no doubt lament Hough’s avoidance of the whiff of brimstone and lurid grand guignol in this reading. Nonetheless, just listen to how he maps or calibrates the fourth movement Lento assai, which opens in a relatively neutral tone of meditation but soon descends into deep despair but is eventually rescued by a short but tellingly assertive ending. Great imagination.
Hough, to my mind, has succeed brilliantly in harnessing Schumann’s 'multitudes'.