22 BERG ∙ BRAHMS ∙ POULENC ∙ SCHUMANN In the ‘Romanze’, we find ourselves at the opposite end of the spectrum from the ‘Phantasie’, with pieces whose repeated tempo markings ‘not fast’ (Nicht schnell) impose calm and restraint. Michel Dalberto: I remember that the Romanzen were trickier to record than the Phantasiestücke. We had to get our phrasing right in these late works by Schumann. I suspect he didn’t find them easy to write, either. Why do you say that? Michel Dalberto: All the earlier pieces, those of Schumann’s youth, flowed from his pen spontaneously, in a creative explosion, from the Davidsbündlertänze op.6 to the Humoreske op.20 by way of the Phantasiestücke op.12. At the end of his life, when Schumann returned to the piano, he became aware of the extreme difficulty of writing for it. What an evolution after the middle period, when he discovered the world of the lied, which aroused an energy that seemed inexhaustible at the time! I’d like to draw another comparison with Brahms here, because I do hear a genuine evolution in his style too, from op.1 to op.120.
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