Top 5 Favorite Schumann Works

[Mirror Image]

Bobby wanted to know what are your 'Top 5 Favorite Works' of his?

I'm still in the midst of exploring his music more in-depth, so my list is most definitely subject to change, but right now here are my favorites:

Piano Quartet in E flat major, Op. 47
Violin Sonata No. 2 in D minor, Op. 121
Geistervariationen, WoO 24
Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54
Märchenbilder, Op. 113

[NikF]

I'll be following this thread with interest. I know relatively little of his work, however I find his piano concerto beautiful and the Op. 17 fantasie so moving and human.

[Mirror Image]

I'll be following this thread with interest. I know relatively little of his work, however I find his piano concerto beautiful and the Op. 17 fantasie so moving and human.

I'll be following this thread as well, Nik. I've heard a good bit of Schumann's music (all of the orchestral and chamber music), but his larger scale choral music, lieder, and solo piano works are obvious blindspots for me.

[Todd]

Carnaval
Études symphoniques
Kreisleriana
Humoreske
Gesänge der Frühe

[springrite]

Fantasiestucke Op.73 (Original cello & piano version)
Fantasy in C
Nachtstucke
Frauen Lieb und Leben
Symphony #2 (or 4)

[Dancing Divertimentian]

I'll be following this thread as well, Nik. I've heard a good bit of Schumann's music (all of the orchestral and chamber music), but his larger scale choral music, lieder, and solo piano works are obvious blindspots for me.

Yeah, this is one composer where you need to know the solo piano works or you don't really know the composer. That's a given. End of story.

And his lieder, too.

So no better time to jump on board the solo piano train!

Kreisleriana
Symphonic Etudes
Fantasy
Carnaval
Liederkreis, op.39

[Mirror Image]

Yeah, this is one composer where you need to know the solo piano works or you don't really know the composer. That's a given. End of story.

And his lieder, too.

So no better time to jump on board the solo piano train!

Kreisleriana
Symphonic Etudes
Fantasy
Carnaval
Liederkreis, op.39

Yes, that seems to be the way into the heart of Schumann, but you don't place any importance on the chamber music? I LOVE his music in this genre.

[springrite]

Yeah, this is one composer where you need to know the solo piano works or you don't really know the composer. That's a given. End of story.

Absolutely. Much of his other works have the piano imprints as well. The Symphony #4, for instance, is basically an orchestrated piano work. You could almost hear the piano even as the orchestra plays.

[Mirror Image]

Absolutely. Much of his other works have the piano imprints as well. The Symphony #4, for instance, is basically an orchestrated piano work. You could almost hear the piano even as the orchestra plays.

I must revisit his Symphony No. 4! That's an interesting opinion.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Yes, that seems to be the way into the heart of Schumann, but you don't place any importance on the chamber music? I LOVE his music in this genre.

I do like his chamber works but the invention & inspiration of his solo piano works (and lieder) is on another level. There's more of everything, especially experimentation. I find his chamber works more "conventional" in shape and scope, less apt to carve out new paths.

His big lieder cycles, too, are highly original. It's no secret he wished to be known as more of an "all-rounder" but what can a guy do when he writes some of the all-time best solo piano music.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Symphony no. 2
Symphony no. 3
Szenen aus Goethes Faust
Dichterliebe
Piano Concerto
Konzerstück for Four Horns and Orchestra
Kreisleriana

Really interesting approach to orchestral colour in his music. It is hard to find recordings which really do justice to his orchestral works. Most tend to try to make his music sound much more weighty than it needs to be.......from my perspective the weightiness comes from the emotional evocations triggered by his use of harmony and especially modulation. An amazing composer.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Absolutely. Much of his other works have the piano imprints as well. The Symphony #4, for instance, is basically an orchestrated piano work. You could almost hear the piano even as the orchestra plays.

+1

[Mandryka]

Märchenerzählungen
Op 39 Liederkreis
Davidsbundlertanze
Gesänge der Frühe
Op 56 Studies
In der Nacht (Duet)

[amw]

Kreisleriana
Davidsbündlertänze
Humoreske
Fantasie
Eichendorff Liederkreis
Dichterliebe
Carnaval
Piano Sonata No. 1
Fantasiestücke (Op. 12)
Heine Liederkreis
Frauenliebe

kinda-sorta in order

[Jo498]

I do like his chamber works but the invention & inspiration of his solo piano works (and lieder) is on another level. There's more of everything, especially experimentation. I find his chamber works more "conventional" in shape and scope, less apt to carve out new paths.

His big lieder cycles, too, are highly original. It's no secret he wished to be known as more of an "all-rounder" but what can a guy do when he writes some of the all-time best solo piano music.

It was not merely a wish but Schumann felt some kind of duty to continue the great German/Austrian musical tradition (that seemed always in danger both from frivolous Italian and French opera as well as from crazy modernists like Wagner) from Bach to Beethoven and write large scale works such as symphonies and string quartets. He also wrote quite a bit of music for children/beginners (Album für die Jugend etc.) as well as choral pieces for amateur choirs. Both he and Mendelssohn apparently saw not only the keeping up of tradition but also musical education for the people (or at least the educated middle and upper classes who had leisure for it) as their duty.

The superiority of his (earlyish) piano music and lieder is probably not only due to the fact that he was less restrained there but also because there was far more room for invention and originality. Much easier to do something interesting after Beethoven in lieder and shortish piano pieces than in symphonies and string quartets!

But I find a lot of his chamber music very original and interesting. He was one of the first composers to write non-trivial short pieces for duo and trio, like the Fantasiestücke op.73 (clarinet), the romances for oboe, the piano trio pieces op.88 and the late Märchenerzählungen etc.

Kreisleriana
Davidsbündlertänze
Eichendorff-Lieder op.39
piano quartet
string quartet op.41/1

[North Star]

Carnaval, Op. 9
Études Symphoniques, Op. 13
Kreisleriana, Op. 16
Fantaisie, Op. 17
Dichterliebe, 48

Hm, I see I ended up with the exact same list as Dancing Divertimentian. I do love a great many other works by Schumann, e.g. the Piano Quintet, the Cello Concerto, the Violin Sonata no. 2, the Geistervariationen, the Etudes in Canonical Form, the symphonies, but the solo piano works and songs are clearly the greatest strengths in his oeuvre.

[Karl Henning]

I don't know if this will quite answer, but the last five Schumann works I listened to are:

Cello Concerto in a minor, Op.129 (orchestrated by Shostakovich)
Konzertstück for Four Horns and Orchestra, Op.86
Piano Sonata in g minor, Op.22
Violin Sonata in d minor, Op.121
Piano Quintet in E^b, Op.44

[Florestan]

Apart from the usual suspects, which are far more than five for me, I quite love these:

Geistervariationen
Der Rose Pilgerfahrt op. 112 (piano, soloists and chorus)
Three Romances for Oboe and Piano op. 94 (especially No. 2 - Einfach, innig)
Violin Sonata No. 1 in A minor op. 105
Violin Concerto in D minor WoO 23

[Brian]

Fantasie in C, Op. 17
Piano Quintet
Fantasiestücke, Op. 12
Kreisleriana
Dichterliebe

in roughly that order

[Jo498]

My "odd" favorites (that is maybe not the next five after the list above but picking somewhat lesser known pieces) would include:

Fantasiestücke for clarinet+piano op.73
piano trio Nr.3
Heine-Lieder op.24
Andersen-Lieder op.40
Die beiden Grenadiere op.49,1