As a pianist, I never really cared for Schumann. But the one recording I urge everyone to track down is Horowitz’s recording of the Kinderschenen. It was originally released along with his recording of Brahms’ D minor Violin and paino sonata that he did with Nathan Milstein. The whole record is worth hearing, but in the interest of staying on the topic of Schumann, I find this recording of one of his most beloved piano works to be the best I’ve heard, as it really draws us into Schumann’s lyricism and phrasing. So much of his other “greater” piano works come off as contrived and dazzling without a true sense of cohesion.(e.g. the G minor Sonata.)
Certainly true of some of the more traditionally formal works, such as the sonatas. But once you've found your way into his very personal universe, the riches there seem inexhaustible. As a player, I found little or nothing in Schumann to interest me until I was nearly 50: but since then I've never looked back. What most listeners (and many performers) miss in Schumann is the pervasive wit and gift for parody (often self-parody). Unless you get hold of this, the personality appears glum and teutonic. A good example is what I find, as a player, the most rewarding of the longer pieces - the Humoreske, which I've been playing for about five years now, and in which I find something fresh every time I come to it. The main challenges for a pianist are to get light and air into the often thick left-hand textures, and to avoid getting bogged down in the often obsessively repetitive rhythms.