Schumann: Violin Sonata No. 1 in A minor, Op. 105 - CD

Awarded the prestigious title of ‘Instrumentalist of the Year’ by the Royal Philharmonic Society in 2006, British violinist Anthony Marwood is internationally celebrated for his engaging and insightful performances. For Schumann’s three Violin Sonatas, he is joined by Aleksandar Madžar, recently praised by Classical Music Magazine as matchless ‘in terms of technique and interpretation’.

Considered by many to be the product of a tired mind hovering on the edge of insanity, these richly impassioned works are filled with restlessness, melancholy and fractured lyricism.

The Violin Sonata No. 1 was written in 1851, at a time when Robert Schumann was – as expressed to his biographer Wasiliewsky – ‘very annoyed with certain people’, which may have been a reference to the tensions that existed between the composer and the Düsseldorf Musikverein. Schumann expressed his feelings of annoyance in the baroque-style finale through an air of robustness, even roughness, which sits in steep contrast with the fretful and tender opening movement. The public premiere was given by Ferdinand David and Clara Schumann in March 1852, but it was not until Joseph Joachim’s performance the following year that the work received the recognition it deserved.

Robert Schumann referred to the Violin Sonata as a ‘Duo’ with the two instrumentalists performing in equal partnership. In the Sonata by Johannes Brahms, on the other hand, the violin is always the principal voice, the piano never a competitor, but rather a subtle accompanist. Brahms wrote this work in memory of his godson, Felix Schumann, the youngest of Robert and Clara’s children, a gifted musician, who died tragically young of tuberculosis. He was only twenty-five. Clara Schumann was deeply moved by the piece, and particularly delighted by the finale with its quotation of ‘Regenlied’, one of her favourites among all of Brahms’s songs.

In her lifetime, Clara Schumann was best known as a great pianist, but up until her thirties she composed a fair amount of music, including a Piano Concerto, songs, and many piano pieces. Three Romances was the only work she wrote for the combination of piano and violin, and while the violin is allowed to sing out throughout, the subtlety and complexity of the piano part testify to its having been composed by a pianist of the first rank.

In 2002, at the age of twelve, Jennifer Pike notably became the youngest-ever winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition. She has given performances throughout the UK and abroad and, now aged just twenty-three, is widely regarded as one of the finest violinists in Britain. Tom Poster is internationally recognised as a pianist of outstanding artistry and versatility, equally in demand as a soloist and as a chamber musician across an unusually extensive repertoire. The two performed together in the Concert for Violin, Piano, and String Quartet, featured on the recent disc of chamber works by Chausson with the Doric String Quartet (CHAN10754).

Robert Schumann's three Sonatas for violin and piano were all composed between 1851 and 1853, and have suffered from neglect like other works from this period in the composer's life.

Here the performers are Ulf Wallin and Roland Pöntinen: a team who recorded their first disc for BIS in 1991, and whose partnership has been described as 'masterfully cultivated ensemble playing' on ClassicsToday.com.

Wallin's credentials in Schumann are firmly established, after his recently released recording of the violin concerto, the Fantasy and the arrangement for violin of the cello concerto has been met with considerable critical acclaim.

Despite his love of the cello’s rich sonority and immense lyrical expressivity, Robert Schumann composed few works for that instrument, a situation frequently rectified, as here, by effective arrangements. Less well known, yet among her most successful compositions, are Clara Schumann’s exquisite Romances. A pupil of Rostropovich and winner of the First Prize and Gold Medal at the Third Tchaikovsky InternationalCompetition, Karine Georgian enjoys an international career as a performer and teacher. Dutch pianist Jan Willem Nelleke’s exceptional qualities as a duo partner have been widely recognised. “Everything Georgian plays is presented with the most succulent, glowing tone, the phrasing boundlessly ample.” Financial Times

After his earlier Hommage à Bach album, played on the same 1837 Érard piano he uses here, Andreas Staier is joined by Daniel Sepec in a programme of considerably later works by Schumann. However, these two violin sonatas and the Gesänge der Frühe of 1853 show no retreat from the composer's ideal: here too, ‘the poet speaks' . . .

‘Ilya Gringolts is a fine advocate for both works, combining brilliance and idiomatic sensitivity’ Gramophone (Arensky/Taneyev) March 09

Ilya Gringolts first release for ONYX.

Gringolts won the 1998 International Violin Competition ‘Premio Paganini’, and was given two awards for the youngest ever competitor to reach the finals, and for the best interpretation of the Paganini Caprices.

He studied at the Julliard School with Perlman and Delay, and is one of 12 young artists selected by the BBC for the highly successful and prestigious New Generation Artists scheme.

His recordings for Hyperion have been praised and he already has a Gramophone Award to his credit for his Taneyev Chamber Music recording with Pletnev, Repin, Imai and Harrell.

He is in demand with major orchestras world-wide.

Recorded Radiostudio DRS Zurich 2006

An original programme featuring works for cello and piano by Schumann, arrangements of works written originally for other instruments.

Schumann himself left the choice of instrument open for some of his works: the clarinet, oboe and cello often changed roles.

The Romanzen Op. 94 were originally for oboe and piano, but work very well played on the cello, as arranged by the famous 19th century cellist Grützmacher. Also the violin sonata Op. 105 fares excellently through the golden, melancholy sonorities of the cello.

Schumann lived his whole life under the spell of the great Johann Sebastian Bach, and as a tribute to Bach’s genius Schumann added a piano part to the famous Cello Suites.

This is the second issue of Schumann transcriptions for cello by the duo Francesco Dillon/Emanuele Torquati. Their earlier issue BC 94060 received enthusiastic comment in the international press: “comes across with vibrant conviction” (Musicweb International).