Ian Hobson: The Complete Schumann Piano Works – “Florestan and Eusebius” in Review
Ian Hobson, piano
The Tenri Cultural Institute, New York, NY
November 7, 2025
A finale that was truly grand concluded Ian Hobson’s long-running New York cycle of Schumann’s piano works this weekend, as he played to a full house at the Tenri Institute. The program consisted of Schumann’s Piano Sonata No. 1 in F-sharp minor, Op. 11, and his Davidsbündlertänze, Op. 6. The concert was entitled “Florestan and Eusebius” – after the names of Schumann’s famously contrasting alter egos – the former being a bold adventurer and the latter, a more introspective dreamer. It would not be difficult to include much of Schumann’s oeuvre in a program named for these two spirits, but the title did seem especially apt here, particularly for the Davidsbündlertänze, which in its first edition actually had each of the eighteen pieces ascribed to either Florestan or Eusebius – in a few cases both. The printed program for this evening included these ascriptions, a helpful guide to the unfamiliar listener, along with the excellent program notes (as usual) by Paul Griffiths.
In addition to all the helpful notes, Mr. Hobson spoke at the concert’s opening, to welcome the audience and to introduce the first piece, the Sonata, Op. 11. Especially illuminating were his mentions of the third movement sections – from scherzo to waltz, pompous polonaise, Bachian interlude, and back – and on to the last movement, which he rightly described as “discursive” with all its twists and turns.
Mr. Hobson’s playing showed the same overview, and he was a sure guide through all of Schumann’s wide-ranging explorations. He seemed quite comfortable through the sonata’s most unwieldy challenges. Naturally, he has always been a pianist of all-encompassing technique and repertoire, so his mastery is never a surprise, but it seemed that there was some increased comfort this time, compared to prior recitals at Tenri, possibly attributable to raising the piano lid by only an inch or two, as opposed to full-stick or half-stick. Mr. Hobson announced that, in response to the condition of the instrument and the acoustics, the lid would be raised only by a book – and at that, a volume of Schumann, much to the audience’s enjoyment. All seemed much more manageable with this setup. Incidentally, that volume of Schumann was not needed for actual reading, as all was played from memory.
A word is in order on memory. Too much may sometimes be made of memory, and many pianists feel exasperated after pouring heart and soul into a performance, only to hear from listeners, “how did you memorize all that?” – as if that were the focus, and of course it is not. That being said, having heard Mr. Hobson play from memory most of this cycle, including around 1,600 pages of solo music (not even counting the chamber music), this reviewer has to say that for such an achievement alone, our admiration is warranted.
The sheer act of memorizing the lifetime output of a composer is also bound to affect the performer’s – and audience’s – perspective, sometimes altering the balance between a work’s idiosyncrasies and the general architecture and momentum. Though this listener has not always been an advocate of complete cycles in concert, it became clear through this one that Mr. Hobson, whom one thinks of as a supremely organized player, had found a certain order to the world of a composer who sometimes seems to defy organization. Though his interpretations were different from many performances I’ve loved dearly, in which the performer has seemed actually to inhabit Schumann’s world, living (and suffering) through each mercurial moment, there was a wise overview here, as if one of Schumann’s stabler friends were relaying the composer’s thoughts and feelings. Clearly Mr. Hobson is “friends” with all of Schumann’s quirks and dreams, and he presented them with spirit, directness, and a superb control of line and texture. The Sonata in F-sharp minor held together more surely than it often does, and where the very rare but inevitable glitches or smudges arose, they were swept easily into the flow of the music.
The Davidsbündlertänze, Schumann in some of his most ebullient writing, came after intermission. The sequence of short pieces felt utterly natural – holding together just as Paul Griffiths so artfully framed Schumann’s goal, “as much by contrast as coherence.” They gleamed like the tesserae of a large mosaic. Most memorable ones included the seventh, which on the first repeat felt not at all like a mere reiteration, but a deepening. The ending of the eleventh, Einfach, was particularly poignant, and the twelfth, Mit Humor, had just the right rambunctiousness complete with whimsical – almost perfunctory – ending. The thirteenth, Wild und lustig (with both Florestan and Eusebius alternating) had the perfect feistiness alternating with a quiet nobility, and the seventeenth was sheer heaven (apart from a slightly rough ending).
There were a few surprising interpretive decisions, such as in the fourteenth (Zart und singend), where one usually encounters a slower tempo along with its feeling of intimacy, but here it moved right along. As is often the case with seasoned artists, one simply had to wait for the reasoning to become clear in retrospect. In this case, more time was taken in its second section, and it thus made sense not to pile lingering upon lingering.
If there were spots that one might want to redo for an immaculate recording, those would probably include moments in the eighth (which actually had exceptional humor), the ninth, and the thirteenth. The third, fifteenth, and sixteenth seemed at times to lack Mr. Hobson’s characteristic ease, but any extra effort seemed to be geared towards spotlighting certain accents and patterns.
All in all, this concert brought many new thoughts on the piano works of Schumann – as did the entire cycle – tying together various “loose ends” of Schumann’s musical life for this listener. It was an education, and that comes from a reviewer with decades of hearing and playing Schumann’s music. Bravo!
On the subject of education, one can only imagine what good fortune it would be to study with Mr. Hobson, who, if asked “what Schumann have you performed?” could honestly now respond, “all of it.”
