Schumann

One of Britain’s best-known musicians, Nicholas Daniel OBE won the BBC Young Musician competition in 1980, after which he quickly established his career, travelling all over the world, broadcasting widely, and making his début at the BBC Proms. He has premièred hundreds of works for the oboe and made many critically acclaimed recordings of both new and familiar music. As a soloist he has appeared with the world’s leading orchestras, performing a huge range of repertoire and premièring works written specially for him by many of the world’s greatest composers. He is a founder member of the Britten Sinfonia, Haffner Wind Ensemble, Orsino Ensemble, and Britten Oboe Quartet.

The World of Romanticism” was a subtitle of the famous Svyatoslav Richter’s music festival “December Nights”. Its programme, as it was the organizers’ intent, comprised compositions by Schubert, Schumann and Chopin. Ten day were devoted to the works of each of the composers. In the beginning of the night which opened the ten days of Robert Schumann, Svyatoslav Richter presented the audience with a Viennese bouquet Blumenstück, Op. 19. That was what they used to call flower still life paintings in Germany (German die Blume stands for a flower, and das Stück – a thing) which were hugely popular in the 19th century.

In the second installment of her recordings of Robert Schumann's piano music, Jimin Oh-Havenith juxtaposes two key works from the famous "piano decade" of 1830-1840: the Kreisleriana op. 16 from 1838 and the Humoreske op. 20, composed a year later. In these pieces, Schumann pays homage to his two most important literary models, E.T.A. Hoffmann and Jean Paul. While in the Kreis-leriana, he merges suite and character piece into a fantastic collage of images, following the traces of Hoffmann's alter ego, the ingeniously eccentric Kapellmeister Kreisler, the Humoreske is designed like an essay in tones. Here, Schumann congenially implements Jean Paul's definition of humour as bridging the opposites of "Gemut" (emotion) and "Witz" (wit) that shape and tear the human apart. For every interpreter, it becomes an equally challenging and fulfilling task to shape Schumann's language, rich in contrast and held together by subtle links, into a poetic cosmos.

In his new album 'Movements', George Li highlights both their structure and their dancing spirit: the 18 movements of Schumann’s 'Davidsbündlertänze' & 'Arabeske in C major', Ravel’s 8 'Valses nobles et sentimentales' and three movements from Stravinsky’s score for the ballet 'Petruskha'.

In his new album 'Movements', George Li highlights both their structure and their dancing spirit: the 18 movements of Schumann’s 'Davidsbündlertänze' & 'Arabeske in C major', Ravel’s 8 'Valses nobles et sentimentales' and three movements from Stravinsky’s score for the ballet 'Petruskha'.

Wife of Robert Schumann, Clara Wieck Schumann was a great piano virtuoso. She also was a wonderful composer of piano works. Korean-born pianist Junghwa Lee brings these works to life with vital performances. Junghwa Lee performs actively in solo recitals, chamber concerts and lecture recitals, and has frequently appeared in concerto performances as a soloist including those with the Korean Symphony Orchestra, Salina Symphony Orchestra, Hutchinson Symphony Orchestra and Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra among others.