Schumann: Piano Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op. 14 'Concerto Without Orchestra' ( Konzert ohne Orchester / Concert sans orchestre)

Swiss pianist Andrea Kauten’s second recording for Sony Classical is of works by Schumann, whose bicentenary will be celebrated in 2010. It includes the Sonata No.3 which Schumann wrote for his wife, Clara.

The courtship and marriage of Robert Schumann and Clara Wieck is one of the great love stories in the history of music. Their relationship, embodying all the requisite elements of Romantic fiction, has taken on mythic proportions through its frequent depiction in novels and movies. When the undiscovered musical genius fell for the daughter of his piano instructor in 1834, she was already an internationally renowned concert artist, though only in her mid-teens. Schumann had found his muse, but the lovers’ relationship met severe opposition from Clara’s father and teacher, Friedrich Wieck. They were forced to take the pedagogue to court before they could marry—by then Clara was twenty-one. The musical foundation of the Schumanns’ relationship is frequently overlooked in favor of the novelistic outlines of the couple’s lives. Their marriage was to have a tremendous influence on Robert’s compositional output. It was his beloved’s playing that Schumann heard in his head when he composed for the piano, and he famously wrote that in his music he attempted to “capture Clara in tones.” Clara Schumann, trained by her father in improvisation and music theory, was a talented composer in her own right, and much of the interchange between the lovers took the form of shared musical ideas and motives which reappear in both composers’ works. Thus Clara was not only a muse, but an actual source of thematic material.

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Contains original liner notes in 3 languages (English, French and German) Jewel case packaging with fully coloured booklets.

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David Kadouch was born in 1985 and entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of only 14. In 2008 he played the Schumann Quintet with Itzhak Perlman in Carnegie Hall. He is an International Classical Music Award winner.

With the musical world celebrating the bicentenary of Robert Schumann’s birth, Claves is pursuing the project of recording the German composer’s complete piano works. Volume 4 in this series brings the talents of Francesco Piemontesi to the keyboard. A Talent that has already been recognised - September 09 the BBC nominated him “New Generation Artist”. This seasons activities will see him debut with the BBC Orchestras, Ulster Orchestra, the Proms and the Cheltenham festival, along with a performance at the Wigmore Hall.

This is the first volume of Hänssler CLASSIC’s complete recording of Schumann’s piano works, a project that has not been accomplished before. Each CD will feature at least one world premiere recording. Here we have the premiere of Presto possible in F minor.

Florian Uhlig is one of the most distinguished young pianists and his interpretations are based on the new critical edition of Schumann’s piano works.

Young Brazilian pianist Felipe Scagliusi, whose mentors include the great Nelson Freire, devotes his debut recording to the poetic and passionate works of Robert Schumann.

Brazilian pianist Felipe Scagliusi makes his recording debut on Avie with an all-Schumann program that displays the 31-year-old musician’s wide-ranging interpretive prowess from poetry to passion – a perfect mirror to the composer’s romantic persona. Mentored by the great Nelson Freire, Felipe first studied in his native São Paolo, then went on to earn a Masters degree from the Manhattan School of Music and further tuition from John O’Conor in Dublin. He made his Carnegie Hall recital debut in 2005, and is now based in Paris.

The three large-scale works on this album were written in the 1830s, a period of great pianistic composing by Schumann. The 3rd Grande Sonate in f minor, Op. 14, originally conceived in 1835-56, appears here in its revised 1853 version. Inspired by a theme by a 16-year-old Clara Wieck, the future Clara Schumann, proponents of the work have included Franz Liszt and, in more recent years, Vladimir Horowitz. The work’s first public performance took place in 1862, six years after Schumann’s death, and at the piano was none other than Johannes Brahms. Another creation of 1836 was the gorgeous Fantasie in C Major, Op.17, considered by many to be the peak of perfection in the composer’s piano oeuvre. The work is dedicated Liszt, who seventeen years later repaid the gesture, dedicating his only sonata to Schumann. The Three Romances, Op. 28, work here as a triple “intermezzo” between the Sonata and Fantasia. They date from 1839, the end of Schumann’s most remarkable decade of pianistic output.

It is not easy for a Korean to gain a foothold in the Western musical world. Mi-Jo Lee is one of the few Asian pianists who are on their way to the top: piano concerts in Berlin’s Philharmonic Hall, recitals in Europe, Japan and the United States and numerous prizes and distinctions have earned her a top ranking among today’s classical pianists.

Mariana Izman was born in Moldavia in 1979. Taking up the piano at the age of just 6, she graduated with honours in 2002 from the Conservatory of Amsterdam. A year prior to her graduation, she won the third prize at the 2001 YPF National Piano Competition. She performs regularly both in the Netherlands and internationally. Mariana Izman’s recital includes two of Schumann’s most famous works for piano. Davidsbündlertänze,

which consists of 18 character pieces, was composed in 1837, just after his reconciliation with Clara Wieck following a disastrous attempt to ask her father’s permission to marry her. Papillons Op.2 dates from 1832.

Schumann appended programmatic descriptions to the numbers based on the masked ball scene from Jean Paul’s novel Flegeljahre. Both use material from some earlier polonaises for piano four-hands. Although an early work, the Third Sonata had a long and complicated gestation. It started out in life as a ‘Concerto without Orchestra’ in 1835 and the slow movement is a set of variations on a theme by Clara.

Schumann started work on at least three piano concertos, but only one, the A minor Concerto Op.54, itself a merging of two originally separate works, survives. Constantly reworked, as were the other two sonatas, the Third Sonata was finally published with a scherzo in 1853, three years before Schumann’s death.

New recording: one of a series of releases from Brilliant Classics featuring outstanding young artists who have won the principal prizes at the Young Pianist Foundation’s National Piano Competition.