Schumann: Piano Sonata No. 1 in F sharp minor, Op. 11

'.... her Kreisleriana can hold its own with any in the catalogue’. Gramophone of Kreisleriana

‘her mastery of every detail of the polyphonic writing is second to none.’ Gramophone of Piano Sonata

Andrea Padova performs the relatively rare Intermezzi Op. 4 by Robert Schumann, plus the Phantasiestucke Op. 111 and Sonata Op. 11 - a celebration of Schumann’s music in the 200th anniversary year.

In this CD, the fourth volume of the complete works for the piano and for chamber music with piano, Eric Le Sage takes four monuments of Schumann's solo piano repertoire: the Humoreske Op. 20 and the Klaviersonate Op.11 (CD1), the Albumblätter (topped up by three pieces from the Klavierstücke) and the Études in the form ofVariations Op.13 (CD2).The acoustic qualities of the Chauxde-Fonds Hall is caught in all its magic by Jean-Marc Laisné. This set firmly establishes Eric Le Sage and his Schumann project as a benchmark for Schumann interpreters.Vol.3 is Chamber Music Choice in the May issue of BBC Music Magazine.

Angela Hewitt’s recent Schumann performances in the concert hall were praised for their ‘urgency, jubilation and introspection’ and ‘power and finesse’. Now for the first time she has recorded two of his greatest piano works for Hyperion. Her clean, thoughtful, incisively musical playing which nevertheless allows a flow of passion to be released is perfectly suited to this music.

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.