This afternoon quite by chance I heard the broadcast of a live performance recording of Marta Argerich playing the Schumann: By far and hands down the best performance of the work I have ever heard. What made it so outstanding was her total freedom to follow ear logic as opposed to notated meters and phrasings. It was constantly stepping outside of the bounds of standard meter, with threes interrupting fours and with impulsive outbursts of energy.
I have never heard anyone approach this utter freedom. The result was that it evoked the magic of Schumann telling one of the fairy tales at which he excelled. And when it flew it really flew. I completely recommend this recording with the Warsaw Philharmonic.
