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SCHUMANN: Album für die Jugend / Rico Gulda, piano

"Rico Gulda, son of Friedrich Gulda, brings his own youthful ardor to the set, and succeeds very well in capturing the essence of these pieces. Many moods and scenes are portrayed by the composer, and Gulda interprets each with a good deal of imagination, expressing tenderness, joy, dashing fervor,
or whatever feeling is called for... he is a faithful and gratifying
interpreter of Schumann's music."
Susan Kagan, Fanfare, March/April 2002

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"The young Rico Gulda, son of the late Friedrich (a major Schumann pianist in his own right), brings to the entire series a 'personal' boldness, definition, and breadth of colour-range that kept me gripped."
Max Loppert, BBC Music Magazine, December 2001

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"Schumann's famous teaching cycle Album fur die Jugend may make modest technical demands (well, not always, truth be told!), but the work embodies some of the composer's loveliest ideas. Pianist Rico Gulda (son of the late pianist Friedrich Gulda) seeks to wring the most music out of these 43 little pieces, and generally succeeds. He shapes them with a myriad of colors, tonal shadings, and voicings. Repeats provide opportunities for Gulda to play with these elements, perhaps to emphasize the left hand more the second time around (like in Stuckchen), or add the una corda pedal here and there. ...Kleine Studie's arpeggiated figures flow with simple understatement and Winterszeit I & II are ravishingly characterized, in contrast to Michelangeli's slow-motion, lobotomized EMI renditions. I look forward to more recordings by this sensitive, intelligent pianist.
Jed Distler, ClassicsToday, October 25, 2001