Listen & tracks

5 works · 66:14

6 Lieder, Op. 13Clara Schumann 6 movements13:53
1. 1 Ich stand in dunklen Träumen 2:25
2. 2 Sie liebten sich beide 1:58
3. 3 Liebeszauber 2:28
4. 4 Der Mond kommt still gegangen 1:48
5. 5 Ich hab’ in Deinem Auge 2:13
6. 6 Die stille Lotosblume 3:01
3 Gedichte aus Rückerts “Liebesfrühling”, Op. 12Clara Schumann 3 movements8:15
1. 7 Er ist gekommen in Sturm und Regen 2:52
2. 8 Liebst du um Schönheit 2:43
3. 9 Warum willst du and’re fragen? 2:40
Sechs Lieder aus “Jucunde” von Hermann Rollet, Op. 23Clara Schumann 6 movements15:14
1. 10 Was weinst du, Blümlein 1:58
2. 11 An einem lichten Morgen 3:38
3. 12 Geheimes Flüstern hier und dort 3:27
4. 13 Auf einem grünen Hügel 2:42
5. 14 Das ist ein Tag, der klingen mag 1:16
6. 15 O Lust, o Lust 2:13
Fantasy Pieces, Op. 73Robert Schumann 3 movements12:16
1. 16 Zart und mit Ausdruck 3:28
2. 17 Lebhaft, leicht 4:13
3. 18 Rasch und mit Feuer 4:35
Fünf Stücke im Volkston, Op. 102Robert Schumann 5 movements16:36
1. 19 Mit Humor 3:43
2. 20 Langsam 3:33
3. 21 Nicht schnell, mit viel Ton zu spielen 4:07
4. 22 Nicht zu rasch 2:15
5. 23 Stark und markirt 2:58

Clara and Robert Schumann were the most celebrated musical couple of the nineteenth century. They met as children while Robert took piano lessons with Clara’s father, Friedrich Wieck. Wieck named his daughter Clara—“brilliance”—and devoted himself to raising a virtuoso pianist. They married the day before her twenty-first birthday and had eight children, one of whom died in infancy.

Before the marriage she was the more famous performer. She nurtured Robert’s composition, promoted his work, and gave first performances of music by Robert and by their friend Johannes Brahms. Contrary to common belief, Clara did not abandon composition when she married. The two wrote side by side, sometimes publishing songs together without specific attribution.

Clara was among the first pianists to perform from memory. She earned most of the household income, and in her lifetime her compositions were often more popular than Robert’s.

The three song sets on this disc date from 1840 (the year of their marriage), 1844 and 1853. “I once believed that I possessed creative talent, but I have given up this idea; a woman must not desire to compose—there has never yet been one able to do it. Should I expect to be the one?”

An injury to one of Robert’s hands confined him to composition—a turn that let him concentrate wholly on writing. Documented emotional torment marked much of his career, except for the first blissful year of marriage in 1840, which brought no fewer than 138 songs.

The Three Fantasy Pieces, Op. 73, originally written for clarinet in 1849, show Robert’s flexible view of how chamber works might be performed. The Five Pieces in Folk Style, Op. 102, written a year later, speak to the German middle class and its appetite for Hausmusik—music meant for amateurs at home.

Robert died in 1856 after more than two years in a psychiatric hospital, where Clara was advised not to visit him.

Reviews

The colours and shapes evoked by Farid and Knighton are stunning, with soulful moments interspersed with more jovial emotions.

— Readings Monthly

Artists

Zoe Knighton

cello

Zoe Knighton is at the forefront of a new generation of performers intent on forging an innovative path for the enjoyment of classical music. A founding member of Flinders Quartet, she is a leading Melbourne cellist and chamber musician.

Amir Farid

piano

Amir Farid has been described as a highly creative musician – a pianist of great intelligence and integrity who brings strong musical substance to all that he does, imbuing it with his own experience and understanding, and who distinguishes himself for all the right reasons.

Robert Schumann

composer

Robert Schumann (1810–1856) was a German composer and music critic of the early Romantic era. His piano works and songs remain among the most enduring of the period.

Clara Schumann

composer

Clara Schumann's chamber and piano works speak with lyrical warmth and intimate Romantic colour. Her Notturno and Three Romances, Op. 22, carry melodic lines that sit naturally under the fingers and in the ear, music shaped for the salon and the recital stage.