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Piano Trios op. 80 & 88, Piano Trio op. 17
Robert Schumann - Clara Wieck Schumann

Piano Trios op. 80 & 88, Piano Trio op. 17

Voces Intimae

Label: Challenge Classics
Format: CD
Barcode: 0608917267525
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Catalog number: CC 72675
Releasedate: 01-05-15
Voces Intimae: With this recording we bring to a close our exploration of what we like to call “the Schumann house”. A place of the heart for a legendary couple, where music and making music was almost as essential as breathing. Our search led us to bring side by side the ‘ancient’ sound of the original instruments in our first volume, and the ‘modern’ sound of current musical instruments. On the other hand interpretations have to be inspired by a musical thinking that transcends the instrumental medium, and we investigated the intimacy of sound, the phrasing and the balance of the parts for a way to restore the splendor of these passionate scores.
- Second and final instalment in Voces Intimae complete survey of Schumann's Piano Trios
- While the first volume was performed on period instruments, this one is on modern instruments
- As a precious fill-in: the Trio op.27 by Clara Schumann, her chamber music masterpiece, tightly related to the life with her husband
There is no equal in music history to the fruitful intertwining of human and artistic affair between Robert Schumann (Zwickau 18010 – Endenich 1856) and Clara Wieck (Leipzig 1819 – Frankfurt am Main 19896). The peculiar stature of these two figures goes even beyond the exceptional value of their individual work and the significant role they took on for romantic music and its promotion and development. The works of Robert and Clara interpreted in this CD by the Trio Voces Intimae are interwoven with secrets, hints and references to the relationship between the two; from the magnificent Trio in G minor op.17, perhaps Clara’s masterpiece, written when she was 27 years old in 1846. Not able to travel, the musician was forced to cancel her tour and focus on this composition, testing her abilities in counterpoint writing after intensely studying Bach’s opus with her husband during the previous years. The work is influenced by Schumann’s contemporary writing, and conveys Felix Mendelssohn’s teachings in chamber music language. Robert Schumann’s Fantasiestücke in A minor op. 88, was written during the very fruitful 1842. His op.88 brings together 4 pages of different character (Romance, Humoreske, Duett and Finale), with the common trifold Lied form and a common affectionate lyricism of melodic lines. The Trio in F major op.80 is from 1847. In this Trio the counterpoint writing is especially displayed from the first movement, but it’s in the third movement that Schumann displays the apex of his chamber music art.