Includes work(s) by various composers. Ensemble: Juilliard String Quartet. Soloist: Leonard Bernstein.

Robert Schumann is in many ways typical of the age in which he lived, combining in his music a number of the principal characteristics of Romanticism, as he did in his life. Schumann’s literary sensibility was exceptionally receptive to the ideas of fantasy and fairy tale. His poetic Hausmusik-music for domestic consumption- represents a motion from the outer to the inner world. This recording explores these affiliations in a unique way as most of the performances are the first to have been recorded on period instruments. The clarinet is a replica of the early 19th century type Schumann knew, all three string instruments use gut strings while the piano is an original 1843 Pleyel, and the music’s intimacy and volatility are significantly intensified through their use.

Classical Music

Romanian classical pianist Clara Haskil (1895-1960) was particularly well known for her brilliant interpretations of classical and early romantic repertoire, especially that of Mozart, Beethoven, and Schumann. Haskil didn’t gain much acclaim until the late 1940s because of a series of physical ailments mixed with crippling stage fright. The songs on this release are all live recordings from Haskil’s concerts, taken between 1947 and 1956, during the peak of her career.

Bass-baritone Christian Immler, accompanied by the pianist Andreas Frese, juxtaposes the contemporary composer Jörg Widmann with the Romantic Schumann in three cycles of lieder written between 1849 and 2013. ‘For us, Jörg Widmann's song cycle Das heiße Herz (‘The Burning Heart’) is to be numbered among the very greatest song cycles, and not just among those of this century. During our intensive rehearsals with Jörg Widmann, the many questions we had (and what a joy to be able to ask them!) often had surprisingly simple answers. The combination with Schumann’s late Harper and Lenau song cycles seems absolutely perfect, for similar situations permeate these cycles as well. Das heiße Herz is recorded here for the first time.

The present release is an innovative and sensitive encounter between poetry and music: a double album with Robert Schumann's song cycle "Dichterliebe" in an unusual arrangement for cello and guitar. Album 1 features the music, and album 2 features the music in combination with the poems by Heinrich Heine on which the composition is based, read by the well-known actor Hanns Zischler. This unique project is rounded off with the cycle "Über Liebe und Tod", four compositions by Michaela Catranis (*1985).

The Davidsbund was an association of artists and people interested in art, for whom there were role models both in literature and in real life. However, this association was an idealistic one: it existed "only in the mind of its founder," according to Schumann. A musical portrait of the same is available on this recording.

The German pianist, Ernst Breidenbach, studied with Werner Hoppstock (piano) and Rainer Hoffmann (piano chamber music) at the Akademie für Tonkunst in Darmstad as well as with Aloys Kontarsky and Günter Ludwig in Köln. In 1975 he made his first broadcast productions and concerts with the flutist Veronika Schäfer. In 1976 he won the 2nd prize at the Bundeswettbewerb der Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Konservatorien, Akademien und Hochschulinstitute der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (federal competition of the working group of the conservatoires, academies and university institutes of the Federal Republic of Germany). In 1981 Ernst Breidenbach made his debut as soloist in Mozart's Piano Concerto in E flat major KV 482 under the baton of Mathias Husmann in Darmstadt.

It was at a recital by Enrico Pace, hearing Schumann’s Novellettes, that the 16-year-old Costanza Principe determined she wished to dedicate her energies to the piano. She had been studying the instrument since the age of six and playing in public since the age of seven, but these still underrated pieces of Schumann set her on a path that has since taken her past degrees at conservatoires in Milan and London, and a Wigmore Hall recital debut in 2016.There is a certain inevitability to the presence of Schumann on her debut album –and not any Schumann, a standard run through of Carnaval, Papillons and Arabesques, but much less familiar pieces that test the expressive reflexes of the most dedicated Schumann interpreter. Neglected ever since Schumann composed it during his troublesome stay in Vienna (1838-1839), while away from but passionately attached to Clara, the collection of Scherzo, Gigue, Romanze und Fughette Op.32 was curiously never performed as a set during Schumann’s lifetime. Written in 1839, the Three Romances Op.28 also suffered a troubled birth, as a Christmas present to Clara –the two now engaged –but one which he did not value sufficiently to dedicate to her. Yet under the hands of an interpreter as sympathetic as Costanza Principe, these pieces surge and swell with the composer’s uniquely impassioned and vulnerable voice. She also includes pieces from the opposite ends of Schumann’s career: the tumultuous Allegro Op.8, a Beethovenian flexing of pianistic muscle from the 21-year-old composer; and the poignant collection of Gesänge der Frühe Op.133, composed five months before his attempted suicide and confinement within the asylum at Endenich.

Robert Schumann, a versatile, well-educated young artist destined for great things, a man whose music has always amazed with its extent and profundity ... and also a person of delicate psyche, which many a time led him to the very border between life and death.

He composed the Piano Quartet in C minor, his first piece of this ilk, at the age of 18, and although, notwithstanding his original intention, he would never remake it into a symphony, he still had it on his mind some 20 years later: “I vividly recollect a passage in one of my works (1828), which I thought was romantic, with a spirit different to that of old music that appeared to me as though opening up a new poetic life.”

The Piano Quartet in E flat major, Op. 47, already attests to Schumann’s compositional mastery, with its idiom inspired by Bach and Beethoven yet speaking in a clearly singular language. The 1853 Märchenerzählungen (Fairy Tale Narrations), was one of the composer’s last happy creative upswings, written shortly before he attempted suicide by jumping from a bridge into the river Rhine with the aim to put an end to his unbearable mental torment. The Dvorák Piano Quartet’s album spans the entire arch of Schumann’s work: the beginning, the peak and the end. Just like all his music, it shows how immense beauty is often close to pain and suffering. Immense beauty and anguish of the soul in Schumann’s chamber music.

Few if any composers equaled Robert Schumann in the breadth of his literary taste. His reading encompassed the major figures of European literature in German translation, as "Die Weinende," a setting of Byron in his Jugendlieder collection, amply illustrates. The three sets of Lieder und Gesänge in this volume are among his most expressive, the earliest dating from his magical ‘year of song’ of 1840. They take as their subject matter a panoply of romantic concerns: love of nature, the changing of the seasons, parting from one’s beloved, the allure of mermaids, as well as more cheerful strophic songs. This is the final volume in this acclaimed series.

Singer Sarah Brady on the genesis of the album: "We grasped the idea of an album entitled "Matters of the Heart" in the spring of 2020, at the time of the first lockdown during the Covid 19 pandemic. Stephen made the suggestion to put together a concert program for future performances. Women's Love and Life had been on my mind earlier, as I had wanted to work on this cycle since college. So it was soon clear that we both wanted to rehearse these Schumann songs. But what should we add? Stephen initially thought of a combination of several composers in the sense of a crossover album - including songs by the Beatles, for example! We came up with several program ideas and ultimately thought songs by Richard Strauss were best suited to expand on the emotional themes of the Schumann songs."

Robert Schumann was twenty-eight years old when he composed in 1838 a cycle of eight pieces for piano, the Novelletten (Novelettes) op. 21. This impressive, highly virtuosic set was dedicated to the pianist Adolf von Henselt, whose spectacular playing and technique were often compared to those of Liszt. Presented by the composer as ‘long, bizarre tales’, the Novelletten were written around the same time as the Kinderszenen, two years before his marriage to Clara Wieck, to whom he confided: ‘I have written a frightful amount of music for you in the last three weeks – light-hearted pieces, Egmont stories, family scenes with fathers, a wedding, in short, the most amiable things.’

Martin Helmchen has taken up this cycle (with the addition of Robert’s Gesänge der Frühe and three excerpts from Clara’s Soirées musicales) with all the passion and virtuosity for which he is famed. He was determined to record this program on a Bechstein pianoforte, in order to capture as many of the colors of this flamboyant musical kaleidoscope as possible.

REVIEW:

The 1860 Bechstein pianoforte featured in the present recording is apparently a model identical to one of Franz Liszt’s preferred instruments. While its sonorities sound musty in relation to modern-day concert grands, its timbral distinctions from one register to another and wealth of colors cannot be denied. What is more, the piano appears to be quite responsive under Martin Helmchen’s nimble fingers, and holds its tuning well. More importantly, Helmchen thoroughly revels in the restless movement and rapid mood-shifts characterizing Schumann’s Novelletten. The quasi-martial spirit of No 1’s outer sections slightly lingers in the tender central episode, where Helmchen colors the imitative lines like a master orchestrator. No 2 goes like the wind, yet it soars more than rushes. Helmchen clarifies No 3’s détaché phrases and close-lying counterpoint with subtle hesitancies and points of emphasis. By playing up the syncopations and cross-rhythmic phrases, he brings out the disquieting subtext behind No 4’s waltzing surface charm, while the pianist’s joyous and characterfully diverse romp through No 5 minimizes the music’s tendency to overstay its welcome.

Conversely, Helmchen resists the usual temptation to rush No 6’s block chords, yet his shapely articulation makes the interpretation sound faster than it actually is. And notwithstanding the instrument’s limited sustaining power, notice the fullness and weight of No 7’s spread chords. As for the epic-scaled No 8, Helmchen gives each section a distinct point of view, yet still manages to integrate them into a cohesive and cumulatively satisfying entity, worthy of comparison alongside the classic Dino Ciani (Stradivarius) and Claudio Arrau recordings (Philips, 2/75).

Clara Schumann’s three Soirées musicales also benefit from Helmchen’s vividly detailed and stylistically spot-on treatments. His controlled soft playing creates an appropriately desolate yet oddly serene sound world in Robert Schumann’s late Gesänge der Frühe, from No 1’s disembodied chorale-like moments and No 2’s linear independence to the vocal quality of No 5’s carefully drawn climaxes. Let’s hope that Helmchen and his vintage Bechstein are destined for further rewarding musical ventures.

-- Gramophone

I could never understand why this wonderful cycle failed to make an impact when it was first issued. Kubelik's sensitivity to detail, his refusal to bully Schumann's vulnerable structures and his ability to penetrate occasional thickets of orchestration, make these 1978-9 sessions especially memorable. Just listen to the cheeky bassoon backing clarinet, 144' into the Spring Symphony's fourth movement, the limpid phrasing of the Rhenish Symphony's Nicht schnell third movement, or the to-ing and fro-ing between first and second violins (usefully separated, as virtually always with Kubelik) in the last movement of the Second, Only the first movement of the Fourth seems to me a little heavy-handed, but then the poetry of the Romanze and the exuberance of the finale more than make amends.

First movement repeats are observed and the playing throughout is rich in felicitous turns of phrase. The sound, though, is a minor stumbling block: violins are thin (one of the few disadvantages of having them separated is that their massed tone becomes mildly diluted), brass a little fuzzy and the whole production less focused than, say, Sawallisch's EMI mid-price Dresden set. But, for me, Kubelik's insights are too varied and meaningful to miss, and I derive as much pleasure from them now as I did 13-odd years ago, when they were first issued on LP. What with a stirring Manfred Overture added for good measure, they constitute exceptional value for money.

-- Gramophone [7/1993, reviewing Sony 48269 and 48270]

Between 1849 and 1853 Robert and Clara Schumann wrote a series of striking and imaginative works for violin and piano. Clara’s expressive Romanzen explores the violin’s lower and middle range, while Robert’s own set of the same name balances turbulence with melancholy. His concentration at this time on Hausmusik also led to the Fantasiestücke, originally cast for clarinet, and the fairy-tale narratives of Märchenbilder. The passionate complexity of the Violin Sonata No. 3 in A minor suggests new musical paths the composer didn’t live to fully explore. Violinist Haoli Lin is an internationally recognized talent. The youngest winner of the China National Violin Competition in 2008, and the winner of the Andrews University International Violin Concert in 2013, Haoli Lin has performed in prestigious concert halls throughout China, Southeast Asia and the US. He has served as guest concertmaster with The Jakarta Symphony in Indonesia and the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra in China. Haoli Lin is the founder and artistic director of the New World Chamber Players and has led the ensemble on three tours of China. Born in China, Jianan Liu began studying piano at the age of five. As a chamber pianist, he has performed with the New World Chamber Players throughout China, appearing in recitals in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shantou, Fuzhou, Shanghai, Chongqing, Nanchang, Wuhan and Qingdao.

The Places
The Canton of Ticino (German Tessin) is the only Swiss canton to have Italian as its official language. It is bounded on three sides by Italy and boasts spectacular mountain scenery, with waterfalls, rivers and lakes. The capital of the canton is now Bellinzona, but was earlier shared with Locarno and Lugano. A feature of the landscape lies in the great lakes that are within its territory, including part of Lago Maggiore, into which the Ticino and Maggia flow.

The Music
Robert Schumann was born in 1810 in Saxony, studied in Leipzig, lived in Dresden and, in 1850 moved to Düsseldorf as director of music to the city. He died in 1856, after a severe mental breakdown, from which he never recovered. In 1840, in spite of the objections of her father, he married the young pianist Clara Wieck, daughter of his former teacher. It was particularly after this marriage that he turned his attention to larger scale compositions, of which his Piano Concerto is an example, inspired by his wife. The other work heard here, the Intermezzi, Op. 4, dates from an earlier period, devoted in particular to the composition of shorter piano pieces, when a career as a pianist still seemed possible for him.

Picture format: NTSC 4:3
Sound format: PCM Stereo
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Running time: 51 mins
No. of DVDs: 1