With this new volume in their ongoing Romantic Violin Concerto series, Hyperion proudly announces a new collaboration with the brilliant young British violinist Chlo� Hanslip, the former child prodigy famously signed to Warner Classics at the age of just fourteen. Here, she lends her now mature talents to the second release in Hyperion's overview of Vieuxtemps' Violin Concertos. Henry Vieuxtemps (1820-1881) was a French violin virtuoso who, after the death of Paganini, was widely considered to be the best violinist in Europe. Besides being a brilliant player, he was a remarkably fine composer, as demonstrated in these, his first two concertos. Alongside the memorable violin fireworks, Vieuxtemps here shows a well-argued musical sensibility that straddles both the Classical and Romantic eras as well as the ability to write gorgeous, almost operatic slow movements in the best bel-canto tradition.

Following a Schubertian venture that has revealed, over the past few years, his immense stature as an interpreter of the lied, Matthias Goerne has now selected twenty or so of the little gems lovingly fashioned by Schumann in the year of his marriage (1840) or in the darker Düsseldorf period (1849-52). This anthology proves to be nothing less than a mise en abyme: an entire world seems to creep in between the fragrant flowers of the bouquet of ‘Myrtles’ and the nocturnal atmosphere of the ‘Six Poems and Requiem’. Yes: a whole world!

Supraphon's properly pitched, 24-bit remasterings of Sviatoslav Richter's 1956 Schumann Fantasiestücke, Waldszenen, and G minor Marsch convey a richness in the bass and boosted midrange presence quite different from the brighter, leaner sonic image characterizing Deutsche Grammophon's Dokumente and Originals series transfers. Richter habitually omitted Grillen and Fabel from Fantasiestücke, yet he played the other six pieces beautifully. The pianist's gorgeous legato touch justifies his unorthodox stretching out of Warum's last section, while his supple and sharply honed fingers make easy work of Aufschwung and Traumes Wirren. Although Richter likened the recording studio to "the torture chamber", he sounds free as a bird throughout his ravishingly tinted, technically dazzling Waldszenen. Lastly, a live November 1959 C major Fantasy stands out for a sense of risk and forward impetus in the first two movements that's largely absent from Richter's 1961 EMI studio effort, despite the cramped sonics. If you've missed these recordings in the past, don't hesitate now.

--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

SYMPHONIES 3&4

Evgeny Kissin is an interpreter who tends to shoot from the hip in the big Romantic masterpieces, resulting in many moments of genius rubbing up against baffling gaucheries. Fortunately, nearly everything comes together for Kissin in his late-1990s recordings of Schumann's Kreisleriana and C major Fantasy. The latter virtually explodes in the face of Kissin's ardent, volatile virtuosity, which dwells at opposite ends of the scale from Pollini's ironclad, symphonically inclined steadiness. Particularly noteworthy (all puns intended) are Kissin's spectacular leaps in the second-movement coda, where he cleanly delineates the outer voices most other pianists are merely content to hit accurately. The whiplash articulation and huge dynamic range Kissin brings to Kreisleriana's faster movements are cut from the same Dionysian cloth that shrouds the great Horowitz (Sony) and Argerich (DG) recordings. In short, the catalog claims no stromger coupling of these works, and with Kissin on top form, who can resist? [6/14/2004] --Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

Find Grimaud's previous DVD release from the Elbphilharmonie on Arkiv as well!

Hélène Grimaud headlines a spectacular evening with the illustrious Camerata Salzburg, directed from the front desk by concertmaster Giovanni Guzzo, at one of the world's most famous contemporary concert halls, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. She selected pieces that are all in minor keys, yet composed during intensely creative periods in both Mozart’s and Robert Schumann’s careers.

Mozart did not write many works in minor tonalities but Grimaud chose to emphasize the minor mode because it “provides a glimpse behind the mask of jollity that surrounds many of his famous works.“ As an encore: a work by a living Ukrainian composer whose music has accompanied Grimaud through much of her career, Valentin Silvestrov.

“Hélène Grimaud and the Salzburg Camerata hypnotise the audience in Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie on this unforgettable evening, with piano concertos of the early Romantic era of Mozart and Schumann that are unique in sound.“ (operaversum.de)

Leif Ove Andsnes is a leading pianist of his time, known for his exceptional musicianship and subtil touch, his considerable technical flair being unfailingly put at the service of his interpretations. He was a pioneer for being the first home-trained superstar pianist to have emerged from Norway. This box is the story of a 20-year partnership that has yielded a rich seam of recorded treasures, first for Virgin and then for EMI. Running through this cornucopia of 34 albums (36 CDs), we find recurring themes: Grieg (Andsnes even recorded some Lyric Pieces on the composer's own piano at Troldhaugen), Nordic music in general, Schumann, Rachmaninov, Schubert.

Thibaut Garcia pays tribute with El Bohemio to the Paraguayan guitar virtuoso and composer Agustín Barrios (1885-1944). As Garcia explains, "Barrios is an essential composer in the guitarist's repertoire. His music can be described as a skilful mix of South American popular music - inspired by the jungles of Paraguay - and the Romanticism of Chopin and Schumann, composers he idolised." El Bohemio duly complements 16 varied works by Barrios himself with three of his transcriptions of famous pieces by Chopin, Schumann, and Beethoven. In addition, the album includes readings of two of Barrios's poems: 'Bohemio', which lends the album it's name, portrays the composer as a wandering troubadour; 'Profesión de fé' (Profession of faith) honours the Guarani, the indigenous people of Paraquay.

THE ROYAL EDITION - SCHUMANN:

"Urgently eloquent." -- Gramophone [4/1987]

"Concentrated expressive intensity." -- Gramophone [11/1990]

"The Wanderer Fantasy is one of Schubert's most striking architectural achievements, and Perahia's intellectually rewarding account of it offers a vivid portrayal of the music's constantly evolving thematic structure." -- Gramophone [10/1995]

Schumann’s treatment of Goethe is a curiously uneven work, composed at various stages in the last decade of his life. Parts 1 and 2 consist of dramatic scenes, which lie somewhere between opera and oratorio, rather as in Berlioz’s Damnation of Faust; but Schumann’s third part takes the music on to an altogether higher plane, setting the mystical final scene from Goethe’s poem (the same text Mahler used in his Eighth Symphony). Recordings and performances of the complete work are rare, partly because of its length (nearly two hours) and the need for multiple soloists (ten in this performance); so this exceptionally fine new Sony set, recorded ‘live’ at Berlin concerts last year, is very welcome indeed. Bryn Terfel is an ideally ardent, troubled Faust, and sings a large amount of music with consummate authority. Mattila makes us feel for Gretchen, and the ensemble numbers are led by Barbara Bonney’s silvery high soprano. The choral singing (Swedish choirs prepared by the legendary Eric Ericson) is simply outstanding, as are the Tölz Boys Choir’s lusty contributions. Most importantly of all, Claudio Abbado conducts with flair and also with great sensitivity, and the members of the orchestra respond as if they believe in every note. If this set doesn’t win an award, there’s no justice in the world.

Performance: 5 (out of 5), Sound: 5 (out of 5)

-- BBC Music Magazine

This is a DSD (Direct Stream Digital) recording

Kurt Masur approaches the symphonies easily and gracefully. He is capable of a gesture of proper grandeur, as at the opening to No. 1, but on the whole he treats them more lightly... The delightful Scherzo to No. 3, marked moderato, is played rather solemnly by Sawallisch, where Masur touches elegantly on its Leindler grace and its easy flow up and down the arpeggios. Opening No. 4, Sawallisch responds to the very Beethoven-like scoring with similar grandeur of utterance; Masur is quieter, seeking out the Romantic tinge in the bassoon and middle string phrases...

-- Gramophone [9/1976]
reviewing the original LP release

The three works on this recording are collections of short pieces, strung together and forming a cohesive whole—a form which Schumann himself invented, developed and brought to perfection. Davidsbündlertänze (Dances of the League of David) was written after Schumann’s engagement to Clara Wieck, to whom he wrote, ‘If I have ever been happy at the piano, it was when I was composing these.’ Papillons (Butterflies) is the work of a youthful, unfettered imagination, and Carnaval is one of his most popular pieces, a display of both technique and emotion. Boris Giltburg, who took first prize at the 2013 Queen Elisabeth Competition, is one of today’s most exciting young pianists, lauded for his ‘massive and engulfing technique, supporting interpretations that glow with warmth and poetic commitment’ (Gramophone).

SCHUMANN: SZENEN AUS GOETHES

Works For Cello And Piano

Complete Violin Sonatas

Complete Trio Works

Complete Works For Choir A Cap

Complete Duo Works

The year 2005 marked the bicentennial anniversary of Hans Christian Andersen's birth, whose's writing has been the treasury of the world. Internationally renowned tenor Poul Elming compiled an album of Lieder by great composers inspired Andersen's poetry.

...[C]ommendable command and spirit [in Carnaval]... I have no hesitation in stating my preference for Cecile Licad, who, for me, has more of the charm, the grace, the imaginative fantasy and last but not least, the immediacy required by the young Schumann on the dance floor. The first two numbers alone at once make that clear... "Pierrot" in its turn brings a far more subtle variety of touch and shading from Licad... [I]t is Licad, more scrupulous in concern for the composer's detailed expressive markings, who I would as willingly have in my own library as the volatile Gavrilov (EMI) and the deep thinking Arrau (Philips).

Though the playing time of Licad's mellowtoned, true-to-life disc is only 52 minutes, her programme artfully spotlights the first five years of Schumann's composing life, working backwards from 1835. Papillons, with its many pre-echoes of Carnaval, is also played with an irresistibly lightfingered spontaneity and musical grace. Yet there is nothing superficially kittenish in Licad's approach. Her characterization is potent again here, with very strongly marked contrasts of tempo and dynamics. And again I would be as happy with this account of the work as any of the catalogue's 'bigger' names. Finally, there's the Toccata, sketched when Schumann was a mere 19 years old, though not emerging in its definitive form for another five years. Licad makes light of all technical problems in a reading nevertheless infinitely more memorable for musical character than mere prestidigitation.

-- Gramophone [1/1991]

Schumann: Piano Music

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 48270 and 48269]

SCHUMANN GREAT HITS

"This is one of the most beautifully performed Schumann discs I have had the pleasure of hearing, regardless of vintage---an absolute winner in all respects. Three multi-sectional pieces are involved, all of them difficult of mood and character to capture and sustain. Haefliger's marked rhythmic sense, vigorous in the extraverted movements but also sufficiently free, perfectly displays the gesture of mid-19th-century romanticism, but it is his tender side that for me so wonderfully conveys the lyricism of Schumann. Haefliger in fact plays the reflective pieces as though they were Lieder, highly appropriate considering the sterling abilities of the pianist's father, the tenor Ernst Haefliger. Therefore, I write of singing, soaring lines, hoping this will convey the kind of poetry one can hear on this gorgeously rendered and reproduced disc."

-- Beth Jacques, Stereophile

Import Hybrid-SACD pressing.

Classical Music

Some of Robert Schumann’s rarest piano music can be heard in this disc, which ranges from his precocious Titania Overture arrangement to the Ghost Variations, the theme of which, he told his wife Clara, had been sung to him by angels. His Beethoven Studies survive in three sources, whilst his admiration for his contemporaries Schubert and Chopin is shown by two works containing a series of variations. The 1836 Third Sonata is included in the pre-1853 revision and also included is the original version of what became his very popular Toccata, Op. 7.

SCHUMANN: Romances and Ballads