Nikolai Lugansky’s New Schumann Recording is Out Now
February 18, 2026
A new album by the pianist Nikolai Lugansky is always an event and it is interesting to note that this new album is Lugansky’s first Schumann album in over thirty years: in 1994 he won the top prize at the prestigious International Tchaikovsky Competition. Earlier that year, Lugansky’s first Schumann album was released on Vanguard Classics (featuring the Études Symphoniques Op. 13, Piano Sonata No. 1 Op. 11 and the Toccata Op. 7). A fine album that was re-released in 2012 on the Piano Classics label.
The new Harmonia Mundi Schumann album features the Fantasy, Faschingsswank aus Wien and the Humoresque. Of these, the Fantasy, composed in 1836 (revised in 1839), is by far the most significant work and is even regarded as one of Schumann’s finest piano works. It is a monumental piece that follows a free three-movement sonata form and which Schumann dedicated to a ‘piano lion’ of the 19th century: Franz Liszt.
Opus Klassiek on the album:
With this recording, Lugansky once again proves himself to be a pianist of the highest calibre, with a complete mastery of Schumann’s idiom, just as he did over thirty years ago.
This is a worthy and compelling addition to the discography of Robert Schumann’s piano works, captured with clarity and warmth in a recording that gives the piano sound exactly the right amount of space.
” 4 stars – Lugansky’s qualities are immediately apparent in the Fantasy: pianistic mastery, tonal nobility and remarkable transparency, even in eruptive passages…Rather than acting as a sensitive sounding board for inner conflicts, Lugansky creates grand arcs, clear structures and controlled emotions – a plea for Schumann as a classical master in the tradition of Beethoven.” - RONDO
“‘Absolutely fantastic and passionate’ – this is how Robert Schumann wanted the beginning of his Fantasy Op. 17 to sound. Nikolai Lugansky takes the composer’s wishes as his command. But his playing does not sound overbearing. Lugansky knows how to take risks. He therefore focuses above all on clarity. The main and secondary voices should always remain clearly recognisable. Lugansky guides us carefully through the ravines and clearings of Schumann’s Fantasy; he does not lose himself in artificial effects, but rather helps us to understand the essential colours and lines of this music…Nikolai Lugansky has selected three works by Robert Schumann for his new album. His piano playing offers no extremes, spectacle or exuberance. Rather, it moves within precisely explored boundaries. Lugansky concentrates on colours and forms. His performance remains vivid and balanced at all times. No more, but also never less.” - NDR