Schumann's Shoebox

[The new erato]

Que, I'm also looking for recommendations of Schumann's piano trios.  I did an inventory of my collection, and my Schumann collection needs an insurgence!   

The Schumann op 63 on this set is an amazing performance. For a complete set the Beaux Arts cheap double on Philips (including the pf Quartet/Quintet) is solid, though not up to this inspired standard of playing.

[Guido]

Am I the only person who vastly prefers the Piano Quartet to the Piano Quintet? Much though I love the latter, I find  that the former is just so much more beautiful, more memorable, more satisfying, more exciting and touching...

Just me? 

[Guido]

Just me? 

It would appear so...

[Que]

Am I the only person who vastly prefers the Piano Quartet to the Piano Quintet? Much though I love the latter, I find the that the former is just so much more beautiful, more memorable, more satisfying, more exciting and touching...

Just me? 

I do not prefer the one over the other - love the nostalgic, autumnal feel of the piano quartet!
Though the general preference for the quintet make good recordings of the quartet thin on the ground...

Q

[Moldyoldie]

[Pasted from "What Are You Listening To?]

Schumann: Violin Sonata No. 1 in A minor, Op. 105;    Violin Sonata No. 2 in D minor, Op. 121;    Violin Sonata No. 3 in A minor, WoO 2
Carolin Widmann, violin;    Dénes Várjon, piano
ECM NEW SERIES
This is my long-delayed introduction to these works, and if the performances found on this 2008 release from the now-venerable ECM label are an indication, it's a wonder why these haven't been more popular or widely propagated in the vast Schumann discography.  There has seemingly been a spate of new recordings released in the past decade, so perhaps the situation is being rectified.  All three sonatas were composed within a brief three-year period (1851-3) late in the emotionally troubled composer's life.  Sonata No. 3 actually consists partially of two movements originally supplied by Schumann as part of a conglomerate work for violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim and whose remaining two movements were supplied by Brahms and the young Albert Dietrich.  Schumann later appended two additional movements to his original two, but apparently the completed No. 3 was never published until the 1950s!

Without getting into specific descriptions, the aggregate vibe across the three works is surprisingly affirmatory with a wonderfully varied, formally uncontained, yet thoroughly exhilarating Romantic expression that's unmistakably Schumannesque!  The performances by Widmann and Várjon are exemplary in their balance and barely controlled exuberance while  projecting a most satisfying emotional ebb and flow.  The recording is intimate -- close enough to hear Widmann's breath and Várjon's coaxing of the piano pedals -- but not so dry as to not allow for a marvelously complementing aural warmth.  Probably the most ear-catching moments are heard in the beautiful Leise, einfach third movement of the Sonata No. 2, introduced by the most ghostly soft pizzicato plucking (so soft and subtle that one might imagine the notes were generated by barely rendered col legno bow hits!) followed by its meltingly disarming melody.  This is one beautiful recording which I've been playing at least twice daily since I first unwrapped it!

[ChamberNut]

[Pasted from "What Are You Listening To?]

Schumann: Violin Sonata No. 1 in A minor, Op. 105;    Violin Sonata No. 2 in D minor, Op. 121;    Violin Sonata No. 3 in A minor, WoO 2
Carolin Widmann, violin;    Dénes Várjon, piano
ECM NEW SERIES
This is my long-delayed introduction to these works, and if the performances found on this 2008 release from the now-venerable ECM label are an indication, it's a wonder why these haven't been more popular or widely propagated in the vast Schumann discography.  There has seemingly been a spate of new recordings released in the past decade, so perhaps the situation is being rectified.  All three sonatas were composed within a brief three-year period (1951-3) late in the emotionally troubled composer's life.  Sonata No. 3 actually consists partially of two movements originally supplied by Schumann as part of a conglomerate work for violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim and whose remaining two movements were supplied by Brahms and the young Albert Dietrich.  Schumann later appended two additional movements to his original two, but apparently the completed No. 3 was never published until the 1950s!

Without getting into specific descriptions, the aggregate vibe across the three works is surprisingly affirmatory with a wonderfully varied, formally uncontained, yet thoroughly exhilarating Romantic expression that's unmistakably Schumannesque!  The performances by Widmann and Várjon are exemplary in their balance and barely controlled exuberance while  projecting a most satisfying emotional ebb and flow.  The recording is intimate -- close enough to hear Widmann's breath and Várjon's coaxing of the piano pedals -- but not so dry as to not allow for a marvelously complementing aural warmth.  Probably the most ear-catching moments are heard in the beautiful Leise, einfach third movement of the Sonata No. 2, introduced by the most ghostly soft pizzicato plucking (so soft and subtle that one might imagine the notes were generated by barely rendered col legno bow hits!) followed by its meltingly disarming melody.  This is one beautiful recording which I've been playing at least twice daily since I first unwrapped it!

Thank you Moldyoldie....duly noted!  I have yet to discover these works myself.  I will have to put this on the "to discover plate"! 

[Moldyoldie]

Thank you Moldyoldie....duly noted!  I have yet to discover these works myself.  I will have to put this on the "to discover plate"! 

Please note that I amended the egregious error in composition dates!  Also know that one of the things characteristic of this Widmann/Várjon recording, which may either be a virtue or fault depending on one's sensibility, is its seeming uniformity; i.e., not swaying too far tempo-wise from an overall agreeable median across its entire 70+ minutes. Having sampled the competing Faust/Avenhaus recording on CPO, I can say that some of the latter's fast movements are noticeably headlong, perhaps providing more overt variance in tempo from movement to movement, if that's what the listener desires.

[Herman]

The Schumann op 63 on this set is an amazing performance. For a complete set the Beaux Arts cheap double on Philips (including the pf Quartet/Quintet) is solid, though not up to this inspired standard of playing.

Florestan Trio is good and the Parnassus Trio, too.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Re-upload (link was dead).

Willem van Otterloo conducting the Residentie Orkest in a fiery performance of the Manfred Overture (heard it digitally on BBC Radio 3 and captured it):

http://www.mediafire.com/?2nvozklmnim

[Herman]

So what are your favorite versions of the Fantaisie Op 17?

Much to my surprise I found (today) I rather liked the 1966 Arrau. And, of course, the live Fiorentino.

[karlhenning]

This may on the surface seem subversive to this thread, but my planned listening this weekend includes the Shostakovich re-scoring of the Schumann Cello Concerto.

[ChamberNut]

This may on the surface seem subversive to this thread, but my planned listening this weekend includes the Shostakovich re-scoring of the Schumann Cello Concerto.

Interesting.  I've never heard of this before. 

[karlhenning]

Interesting.  I've never heard of this before. 

Well, I had known of it long before I found a recording!  The premiere recording on Chandos is not all that old.

Curiously enough, it was first recorded by Gidon Kremer, playing (obviously) the solo part in a violin adaptation.

[ChamberNut]

Well, I had known of it long before I found a recording!  The premiere recording on Chandos is not all that old.

Curiously enough, it was first recorded by Gidon Kremer, playing (obviously) the solo part in a violin adaptation.

Oh, so it's re-scored as a violin concerto??

[karlhenning]

Oh, so it's re-scored as a violin concerto??

Oh, I see I've confused you, mon ami.

Shostakovich prepared a new orchestration of the accompaniment at Slava's request;  it remains a cello concerto.

Kremer (who has also championed the Schumann Violin Concerto) seems to have prepared a violin adaptation for himself.

[ChamberNut]

Oh, I see I've confused you, mon ami.

Shostakovich prepared a new orchestration of the accompaniment at Slava's request;  it remains a cello concerto.

Kremer (who has also championed the Schumann Violin Concerto) seems to have prepared a violin adaptation for himself.

Yes, I think I now understand! 

[karlhenning]

Rejoice, therefore!

[Herman]

Oh, I see I've confused you, mon ami.

Shostakovich prepared a new orchestration of the accompaniment at Slava's request;  it remains a cello concerto.

SO, what was wrong with orchestration, according to Rostropovich. Isn't the Cello Cto one of Schumann's most exquisitely scored works.?

[karlhenning]

SO, what was wrong with orchestration, according to Rostropovich. Isn't the Cello Cto one of Schumann's most exquisitely scored works.?

I haven't heard any detail on that question; I certainly confess its interest 

[Drasko]

So what are your favorite versions of the Fantaisie Op 17?

Egorov, Sofronitsky, Freire