Schumann: Klavierkonzert ∙ hr-Sinfonieorchester ∙ Khatia Buniatishvili ∙...

10,844,092 views Sep 6, 2012

Robert Schumann: Klavierkonzert ∙ (Auftritt) 00:00 ∙ I. Allegro affettuoso 00:30 ∙ II. Intermezzo. Andantino grazioso 15:44 ∙ III. Allegro vivace 20:31 ∙ Khatia Buniatishvili, Klavier ∙ hr-Sinfonieorchester (Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra) ∙ Paavo Järvi, Dirigent ∙ Rheingau Musik Festival 2012 ∙ Wiesbaden, Kurhaus, 23. August 2012 ∙

1:08 / 39:50

Brahms on the Road: A Trip to Transylvania with Piano and Violin I

Johannes Brahms

In 1879, Brahms wrote to the librarian at the Gesesllschaft der Musikfreunde that he and the violinist Joseph Joachim were planning a tour to the extremes of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Could he please send him, with the greatest urgency, some music by Beethoven, Schubert, and a bit of Schumann? Please have this in the mail two weeks ago! If the librarian couldn’t get these out of the library, please buy the Peters edition of the individual works requested and if those aren’t available, the complete violin sonatas of Beethoven and Schubert would do. Quickly!

Brahms was taking to the hinterlands with Joachim for a series of concerts. They were travelling deep into the Austro-Hungarian empire, to the middle of current-day Romania, which for the Viennese-living Brahms, would be like a New Yorker venturing into deepest Iowa.

For Brahms, this was a momentous decision: he hadn’t been on the road touring since the late 1860s when he needed the money, and when he was on tour, he complained about what the constant concertizing did to his fingers. Nonetheless, when Joachim’s agent suggested the tour as a way of combining music making with a holiday, Brahms was interested. Now that he was wealthier and could afford the leisure time, he could travel for the pleasure of it.

Joseph Joachim

It wasn’t easy to convince Brahms to go. Initially, he was reluctant, writing to his publisher Simrock that ‘…all concert tours…are a dubious pleasure.’ He said he wanted to travel in comfort and do some touring, but his concertizing companions, in the past, only wanted to do more and more concerts, scarcely lifting their eyes from the music to admire the scenery, and make money, of course. Eventually, though, he agreed and the tour was on.

Brahms and Joachim had only one day of rehearsal in Budapest, but then they were playing music that they probably knew from memory, having played it together for past quarter-century, with the one exception of a new work. The repertoire they travelled with included works from Bach to Brahms’ latest new work: the Violin Concerto, Op. 77. Joachim was the dedicatee of the work and had played its premiere, which hadn’t been a success. Joachim wanted to take it on the road as he needed to perform it more but Brahms wasn’t certain about reducing the orchestra to piano accompaniment alone. Joachim brought along Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto as a backup, reminding Brahms that he had learned it from Mendelssohn himself.

The tour started on 13 September 1879 in Budapest, then by train to the city of Arad, just over the border in modern-day Romania. The next morning, off to Timişoara by carriage for a concert, return that night back to Arad, and then off to Sighişoara by train, concert the next day, and off the following day to Braşov. Back to the carriage for a trip to Sibiu, then onto Cluj, returning by train to Budapest on 24 September. This 11-day trip covered 1,600 km (1,000 miles).

The concert in Arad sold out almost immediately. The programme included Schumman’s Fantasiestücke for Piano and Violin (an arrangement of the Fantasiestücke for clarinet and piano), Tartini’s Devil’s Trill Sonata, and works by Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms. 

Arad wasn’t quite as desolate and isolated as Brahms had imagined it to be in this tour of remote regions of the Empire. It was an important transportation hub, had a large military establishment, had the sixth music academy on the continent (opening only 11 years after the Royal Academy in London), and was a bustling commercial centre.

Reviewers noted in particular Brahms’ performance of the Schumann Novelletten, which seems to have been Brahms’ first performance of the entire work ever.

Off by single-track railroad to Timişoara, where the concert was promoted as presenting ‘The Piano Hero and the Violin King.’ The concert started with the Beethoven Violin Sonata, Op. 30, and closed with the Brahms Violin Concerto, Op. 77, arranged for violin and piano. 

Finally, Brahms’ Violin Concerto was coming in for praise, with one reviewer calling it ‘one of the most important compositions today,’ but wished for an orchestra to accompany, rather than just a piano. Reports of the concert couldn’t understate their importance to the town: ‘anybody who was anyone, by birth, rank, position, anyone with an understanding for music, was present. They held their breath at the wonderful sounds of the Violin King and the rare virtuosity of Brahms, a pianist of the first rank. Stormy applause followed each number; the audience left highly satisfied, conscious of having been present at an evening of rare artistry.’

9 of Clara Schumann’s all-time best pieces of music

9 of Clara Schumann’s all-time best pieces of music. Picture: Getty

By Maddy Shaw Roberts,  ClassicFM

 

We explore the musical canon of one of the Romantic period’s most unsung composers.

A virtuosic pianist and brilliant composer, Clara Schumann was one of the stars of the Romantic era – but her music hasn’t always been given the credit it deserves.

Working in a field overwhelmingly dominated by men, the 19th-century musician is quoted as saying sometime in her later years: “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?”

Despite the obstacles she faced, Clara Schumann’s canon includes 30 Lieder, choral music, solo piano pieces, one piano concerto, plus chamber and orchestral works. Here are the most memorable among them.

1. Piano Concerto in A minor

   Clara Schumann was one of the most acclaimed pianists of her time and wrote exquisitely and extensively for the instrument. This beautiful piano concerto gives us more than a hint of her incredible pianism and musical imagination.

2. Piano Trio in G minor

   This gorgeous chamber composition for violin, piano and cello has been called a “masterpiece” among Clara Schumann’s works.

   She wrote it in the summer of 1846, during a traumatic period of her somewhat turbulent life. Her husband, Robert Schumann, was extremely ill and the couple had travelled to Nordeney in an attempt to improve his health condition. Clara, who had recently fallen pregnant, suffered a miscarriage during their stay on the island.

   Clara’s trio is said to have greatly influenced her husband’s first piano trio, Op. 63, which was written a year later.

   
   

3. 6 Lieder, Op.13

   After her marriage Clara turned, to some extent, away from writing for the piano, and towards lieder and choral works. These Sechs Lieder, or Six Songs, are a setting of the romantic poems of Herine, Geibel and Rckert. Written in the first weeks of her nuptials, the songs convey the intimacy of the first, blissful season of marriage.

4. Variations on a theme by Robert Schumann

   The Schumanns had a close relationship, emotionally and musically, and their works were frequently paired at concerts.

   These Variations are almost a love letter to the couple’s passion for music-making, the seven moments gradually developing Robert Schumann’s simple theme into an intricate, expansive work for the keyboard.

5. Three Romances

   Romances were one of Clara Schumann’s favourite forms to compose in, and these are some of her most exquisite. She toured the piece and played it before royalty with its dedicatee, her close friend and violin virtuoso, Joseph Joachim.

   One critic said at the time: “All three pieces display an individual character conceived in a truly sincere manner and written in a delicate and fragrant hand.”

6. Scherzo No. 2 in C minor

   A pianist herself, Clara Schumann loved to write flourishing works for the piano that showed the virtuosity of the performer.

   Her Scherzo No. 2 is fiery and beautifully nuanced – hear it played below by the brilliant young piano star Isata Kanneh-Mason, a 21st-century champion for Clara’s music.

7. 4 Pièces caractéristiques

   Clara frequently performed this piece during her early career. And at one performance, who should be in the crowd but her contemporary, Polish piano virtuoso and composer Frédéric Chopin, who found himself captivated by Clara’s work.

   Its lively opening, marked ‘Allegro furioso’, is delightfully contrasted by its plaintive third movement, marked ‘Andante con sentimento’.

8. Impromptu in E major

   A largely forgotten work, the ‘Impromptu’ is bliss in a bottle for lovers of Romantic piano music. Composed in 1844, it was not published until 1885, when Schumann was well into her 60s and still delighting concert audiences.

9. Soirées Musicales

   The Soirées Musicales comprise six miniatures – a Toccatina, a Notturno, two Mazurkas, a Ballade and a rhythmic Polonaise, all familiar-sounding titles for fans of Chopin’s music. The ‘Polonaise’, in particular, gently nods to the Polish giant’s form.

Want to vote for Clara Schumann’s music in the world’s biggest survey of classical music tastes? Cast your vote before 22 March 2023 in the Classic FM Hall of Fame.

Martha Argerich: Schumann Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54(2022)

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Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by Zubin Mehta September 18, 2022 Musikverein, Goldener Saal 00:35 I. Allegro affettuoso 16:00 II. Intermezzo; Andante grazioso 21:50 III. Finale; Allegro vivace Encore: Schumann Kinderszenen Op. 15 34:52 1. Von fremden Ländern und Menschen