Ukrainian pianist
Milana Chernyavska has been known mostly as an accompanist, and perhaps that background shows in her solo performances of some familiar
Robert Schumann sets of character pieces here. She makes comparatively little use of tempo rubato, and there's not a great sense of interiority in her playing nor really of the "imaginary world" promised in the album title. On the plus side, she has a lot of power, and in the muscular, public style of Carnaval, Op. 9, with its little musical puzzles, her sharp, blocky contrasts among the work's portraits are very effective, and the final Marche des Davidsbündler contra les Philistins (track 28) wraps up the program with a flourish as the fantastic element takes care of itself. The plain treatment of tempo may be a matter of taste, for the listener who wants highly individual treatments has plenty of other places to go. But sample some of the familiar pieces from Kinderszenen, Op. 15 (Scenes of Childhood), to see whether you're comfortable with the circumspect readings; this is one of the less dreamlike Träumerei versions on the market. But for some listeners the straightforwardness could be a "just give me the music" corrective to the general tendency to interpose another strong personality between
Schumann and the listener. Note that the track listing for Carnaval, which omits the "Intermezzo: Paganini" movement leading into "Aveu" (track 35), is incorrect; there are 39 tracks in all, not 38.