The Davidsb�ndlert�nze, Opus 6, and the Fantasiest�cke, Opus 12, both belong to the year 1837. Wieck had insisted that Clara should not see Schumann and that letters should be returned. The latter, despairing of success in his pursuit of Clara, turned to drink and conduct that his landlady, at least, found reprehensible. At one point he sought revenge on Clara by publishing a satire mocking both her and a young man who had been brought in by her father to give her singing lessons. He dedicated his Fantasiest�cke, written between 22nd May and 4th July, to an attractive eighteen-year-old Scottish pianist, Robena Laidlaw. It was Clara who brought about a reconciliation through an intermediary so that August saw her pledged to him and in September they were able to meet again. The Davidsb�ndlert�nze were written in the late summer and early autumn of 1837, after this reconciliation. The first dance opens with a quotation from a Mazurka by Clara Wieck and is varied in mood, attributed to both Florestan and Eusebius. The second piece is attributed to the latter and the third, marked With Humour, to Florestan, the author of the fourth, marked Impatient. The simple fifth piece is in the mood of Eusebius, while the sixth, in stormier mood, reverts to Florestan. The opening arpeggiated chords of the seventh piece reintroduce Eusebius, followed by a brusque Florestan. The last piece of the first book, marked Lively, carries an additional explanation: Hierauf schlo� Florestan und es zuckte ihm schmerzlich um die Lippen (Hereupon Florestan stopped and his lips quivered sadly). Florestan opens the second set of nine pieces in ballad measure, with a whimsical third piece framing a simple second for Eusebius. The fourth has room for both moods, with the gently singing filth for Eusebius. Both are together again in the sixth piece as they appear to be in the seventh, with it's contrasting slower Trio section, which leads at once to the eighth piece, Wie aus der Ferne (As from the Distance). For the final dance Schumann adds the explanation: Ganz zum �berfluss meinte Eusebius noch Folgendes; dabei sprach aberviel Seligkeit aus seinen Augen (Eusebius considered the following quite superfluous; but at the same time he expressed much happiness with his eyes). The last piece adds a gentle C major conclusion to the work. Benjamin Frith the young British pianist Benjamin Frith has had a distinguished career. A pupil of Fanny Waterman, he won, at the age of fourteen, the British National Concerto Competition, followed by the award of the Mozart Memorial Prize and joint top prize in 1986 in the Italian Busoni International Piano Competition and in 1989 a Gold Medal and First prize in the Arthur Rubinstein Piano Master Competition. Benjamin Frith enjoys a busy international career, with engagements in the United States and throughout Europe as a soloist and recitalist, with festival appearances at Sheffield, Aldeburgh, Harrogate, Kuhmo, Bolzano, Savannah, Pasadena and Hong Kong and an Edinburgh Festival debut in 1992. His recordings include a highly praised performance of Beethoven's Diabelli Variations on the ASV label and for Naxos a release of piano music by Schumann, followed by the two Mendelssohn Piano Concertos and the Third Piano Concerto of Rachmaninov.

With vol. 8, pianist Florian Uhlig reaches the midway point of his widely acclaimed, much admired first truly integral Schumann recording project. - This new CD deals with the dual nature of the composer and writer, finding it's finest expression in the David's b�ndlert�nze (1st version, op. 6). - The typical romantic play of rubrics, musical ciphers and pseudonyms can also be found in the Carnival, op. 9. - Additionally, Mr. Uhlig has collected some related miniatures that Schumann either rejected or were never included in subsequent printed editions, at least three being world premiere recordings.

Based on a fairy tale about the Peri of Persian Mythology, Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri is an innovative form of dramatic cantata for solo voice, choir, and orchestra. The piece is an oratorio in three parts, with text by Emil Flechsig and Schumann based on the story by Thomas Moore, Lalla Rookh. This recording is from 1981. It features the Leipzig Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester conducted by Wolf-Dieter Hauschild, along with some of the greatest soloists including Magdalena Hajossyova and Marga Schiml.

"Seldom do we find a pianist such as the young German keyboard master, Florian Uhlig, who has the ability to take the music to its very limits, transforming it into something one never suspected it could be. [...] Uhlig unleashed a rush of pianistic brilliance, underpinned by a rock-solid rhythmic pulse [...]. He interspersed this effusion with the tenderest interludes of dreamlike reflection, as moments of respite in a joy ride that left the house breathless at the dazzling close of the concerto's [Schumann Piano Concerto in A minor op.54] glorious Allegro vivace. No amount of pre-concert hype could have prepared listeners for such a marvellous revelation." -- Daily News Durban [reviewing Florian Uhlig in concert]

As a very special companion disc to the haenssler CLASSIC recording of Schumann's complete works for violin and orchestra, we are proud to present an integral recording of the composer's works for PIANO and orchestra - including a World Premiere! For the first time, Schumann's own orchestration of his Abegg Variations, Opus 1, which the composer wrote under the inspiration of Chopin's Variations on "La ci darem la mano". Also included, of course, is the famous Piano Concerto in A minor, the Konzertsatz in D minor, originally conceived as the first movement of an unfinished piano concerto as well as to later concert works that Schumann wrote later in his life. The program on this disc has been organized chronologically. Thus Robert Schumann's complete concertante works for piano can be experienced as a documentary process of the composer's development. Florian Uhlig is not only young a pianist of international stature, but also one who knows Schumann's oeuvre very well. He is currently engaged in recording Schumann's complete works for solo piano - the first volume of which is already available. When complete, Uhlig's cycle will bring to light many forgotten and never-before-recorded masterworks.

Concluding audite’s Schumann edition, this CD combines the first symphony with the late overtures, whose compactness displays the composer’s symphonic mastery.

The overtures, all written after 1847, represent an essential complement to the symphonies: seen in relation to the symphonies, they take a similar position as do the Konzertstücke relative to the concertos. Schumann conceived them partly as preludes to operas, oratorios or incidental works, partly as independent pieces. On the one hand, they were intended to provide “an image of the whole”; on the other, their purpose was to introduce, leading into the drama. Beside larger- and smaller-scale vocal works, and alongside the poetic renewal of the symphony, they bear testimony to the great significance of literature in Schumann’s musical thought and style.

The overtures are supplemented with Schumann’s first symphony, the so-called “Zwickau”. It was the composer’s first attempt in the symphonic form to be performed publicly, even though the work remained incomplete.

"...one of the most attractive collections of this music" (Gramophone) "As a conductor, the versatile musician Heinz Holliger emerges as a knowledgeable Schumann expert who, alongside the excellent WDR Orchestra, makes everything to which the composer aspired shine, gleam and glow: simply beautiful music of the vibrant and current romantic spirit, unfractured but carefully thought out." (Das Orchester) The complete edition of Robert Schumann's symphonic works with the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne under Heinz Holliger is now available on one comprehensive release. Alongside the Symphonies Nos 1-4, this edition comprises the D minor Symphony in the original version, as well as the Symphony in G minor, "Zwickau.” This selection of works creates one of the most comprehensive recorded editions of Schumann's symphonic works. The Schumann specialist Heinz Holliger successfully proves, contrary to common preconceptions, Robert Schumann's great art of orchestral instrumentation. All recordings remain available as single releases as well.

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Excerpts of select reviews from previously released volumes included in this set:

Schumann: Complete Symphonic Works Vol 1

If we pay Schumann the compliment of knowing what he was trying to do, we see that he succeeded with orchestration here in an astonishingly original way. Quite simply, no other symphony of its era sounds like it—it is almost as though, like Stravinsky, Schumann chose his instruments to pique as much as to beguile. But beguile he does! The WDR SO plays with remarkable subtlety and should rise in anyone’s esteem from the very first hearing. I look forward to the rest of the cycle with genuine impatience!

– Fanfare

Schumann: Complete Symphonic Works Vol IV

Kopatchinskaja is typically bold and provocative in Schumann’s Violin Concerto…where it works really well is in the slow movement, Kopatchinskaja exposing the fragility of Schumann’s writing with heart-rending sensitivity…Dénes Várjon emphasises [the Piano Concerto’s] playfulness and lightness of touch, especially in the slow movement and Finale.

– BBC Music Magazine

This collection provides a complete account of Robert Schumann's works for viola and piano. Schumann was a real innovator, who would often explore new instrumental combinations, sometimes bringing neglected or forgotten instruments back into the limelight. The works on this recording show just how many different moods the composer could evoke using the unusual combination of viola and piano, from the changeable nature of the Fantasiestücke Op.73 and the array of emotions portrayed in the Märchenbilder Op.113 to the passion of the Adagio and Allegro Op.70 and finally the intricacies of the Märchenerzählungen Op.132, with a little help from the clarinet.

The successful partnership of violist Lorenzo Falconi and pianist Sara Bacchini has been described by acclaimed performer, Pier Narciso Masi, as 'a real Duo, in the most complete sense of the word. Their profound understanding of chamber music is supported by considerable talent, sensitivity and personality, and they are great communicators.' They are joined for the recording by clarinettist Darlo Goracci.

Other information:
- New recording, recorded 31 October & 1 November 2012, Chiesa di Santa Cristina, Bologna.
- This disc brings together all Schumann's music featuring the viola as solo instrument.
- Robert Schumann, visionary Romantic, was also a very practical man, who wrote works which could be played on various solo instruments. For instance his Adagio and Allegro Op. 70 may be played on clarinet, oboe, cello or viola.
- These relatively late works of Schumann are on an intimate scale and present idyllic musical landscapes, the world of legends and fairytales.
- Beautifully performed by the Italian duo Lorenzo Falconi and Sara Bacchini.
- Contains liner notes on the pieces and biographies of the performers.

Hänssler Classic is proud to release the fourth volume in what will be the only true complete recording of Schumann's music for piano solo. On the 4th volume ("Schumann in Vienna"), Florian Uhlig presents piano works composed in Vienna in 1838/39, amongst others "Faschingsschwank aus Wien op.26" and "Humoreske B Flat Major op.20".

As was the case in the three previous installments, this program is arranged "thematically". Each volume will contain unpublished works or fragments. Schumann left many extended fragments that can easily be reconstructed without daring speculations, and in such cases, these fragments deserve to be heard and included in our presentation of Schumann complete works for the piano.The entire series production and booklet notes are the work of the highly respected Schumann scholar Joachim Draheim, who has provided not only invaluable biographical and historical background but has had access to many previously unpublished manuscripts and Schumann's own corrections and revisions to the printed scores.

- Hänssler Classic

Chamber music occupies the largest part of Camillo Schumann' extensive compositional output, his admiration of Brahms, Liszt and Rachmaninov evident at every turn.

Schumann’s love of the cello, which developed when he learned the instrument as a young man, is expressed most fully in his ‘Cello Concerto in A minor.’ It is a work marked by freshness of spirit and singing lyricism and stands as a rich example of mid-19th-century Romanticism. The series of characterful small pieces that include ‘Funf Stucke im Volkston’ reveals Schumann’s joy in the cello’s unique lyrical capabilities. The ‘Drei Romanzen’ and the ‘Intermezzo’ from the ‘F-A-E Sonata’ are presented here in new arrangements for cello and piano by Gabriel Schwabe. Gabriel Schwabe has established himself among the leading cellists of his generation. He is a laureate of numerous national and international competitions, including the Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann and the Concours Rostropovich in Paris. As a soloist he has worked with orchestras such as the Philharmonia Orchestra, the NDR Radiophilharmonie, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Malmo and Norrkoping Symphony Orchestras and the Royal Northern Sinfonia. He plays a rare Italian instrument made in Brescia (c. 1600).

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REVIEW:

With just the necessary amount of vibrato, Gabriel Schwabe's cello, dating from around 1600, sings eloquently for him. The score of the concerto’s central section contains much sadness; without any undue haste, he generates an appropriate sense of triumphant brilliance as the work ends.

Schwabe and pianist Nicholas Rimmer give a particularly fast and vibrant account of the Allegro, in the Adagio and Allegro. It is a similarly outgoing performance of the Fantasiestucke that acts as a foil to the moments of beauty in the Three Romances; the five Volkston vividly characterised and contrasted, while the arrangement of the Intermezzo has simply taken the solo part down by an octave.

The catalogue is certainly not short of recordings of the Concerto, but this coupling is unusual and most enjoyable.

– David's Review Corner (David Denton)

Classical Music

Pianist Alexander Kobrin, born in Russia in 1980 and now based in the U.S. is an internationally acclaimed pianist who, among other honors, is a former winner of the Gold Medal Prize in the heralded Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. + This Centaur release features Mr. Kobrin’s in an all-Schumann program, opening with one of the composer’s finest of several piano masterpieces that comprise Schumann’s first two dozen or so published works, Carnaval, op. 9, followed by Waldszenen, op. 82, which contains the wondrous Vogel als Prophet, and concludes with the op. 18 Arabesque.

“Ms. Andrist shapes the music with subtle dynamic touches, creates dramatic moments and plays with wonderful fluency and poise.” - Montreal Gazette

"Andrist displayed her virtuosity as she hit every note cleanly and tastefully, and flew through passages that would have flummoxed others." - Washington Post, 2005

Schumann, R.: Kinderszenen / Papillons / Carnaval

A revolution in art and literature swept through Europe and by the early 1800s Romanticism dominated the musical landscape. Such figures as Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Brahms exemplified the ideals yet maintained highly individual approaches. Now, our finest historically-informed musicians and scholars present this incomparable repertoire in a series destined by become an essential part of every serious music lover’s collection. Robert Schumann, the “herald of a new poetic age”, in the words of his biographer, John Daverio, carved out a unique position for himself in the world of German Romanticism, especially in the creation of a new genre of solo piano music, which consisted of a cycle of miniatures, often provided with evocatively poetic titles. The present recording features Schumann’s three-movement Fantasie in C major, Op. 17 and the playfully mysterious and kaleidoscopic Carnaval, Op. 9, a series of miniature character portraits with a wide range of moods and textures. Chi-Chen Wu performs these works on a copy of a 19thcentury Viennese fortepiano by Rodney Regier.