Schumann Op. 92

Robert Schumann - Works For Piano & Orchestra
Gerhard Oppitz - Bamberger Symphoniker / Marc Andreae
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 321 MB | Full Artwork: 124 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Tudor # 7181 | Country/Year: Switzerland 2012
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic

"…The sound is every bit as good as the playing - all players are just "there" and all the highlighting of textures and balance adjustments are obviously not the work of the engineers. Enormously recommended. " ~sa-cd.net

To mark the 200th birthday of Robert Schumann in 2010, this new recording includes a unique program of the great German Romantic composer’s late piano works. This release also marks the 70th birthday of Christoph Eschenbach – one of the great musicians of our times. This CD features him both as pianist and as conductor, together with his long-time musical protégé and close friend, pianist Tzimon Barto.

Sviatoslav Richter is still regarded by nearly the entire piano community as one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century. Known for the “depth of his interpretations, his virtuoso technique, and his vast repertoire,” many of his recordings are still the benchmark recordings of famous repertoire. The present edition of Richter’s interpretations from 1948 to 1963 even has some premieres to offer, taken from hitherto unreleased live recordings. Special guests on this release include the Borodin Quartet, Nina Dorliac, Mstislav Rostropovich. Profil Edition Günter Hänssler has already released numerous albums featuring Richter’s performances of works by Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert. The recordings that make up this edition are devoted to the composers Schumann, Brahms and Reger.

The complete edition of Robert Schumann's symphonic works with the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne under Heinz Holliger is now available as a 6 album set.

This collection of Schumann’s “complete works for piano and orchestra” is more complete than usual, with the inclusion of two conjectural reconstructions: one from sketches, the other from a combination of sketches and a reworking of an existing solo piano piece. Excluded is the piano arrangement of the Konzertstück for four horns, which Joachim Draheim’s excellent booklet notes are adamant has no connection with Schumann, either Robert or Clara.

Who knows how Norbert Burgmüller’s compositional talent may have developed had he not died at 26? Perhaps it’s not fair that his Op. 1 Piano Concerto is sandwiched between two concerted works by his exact contemporary, Robert Schumann. Though the Op. 92 and Op. 134 are not quite prime Schumann, their idiosyncratic beauties ooze genius. Burgmüller’s assured fluency operates within more conventional parameters, with the spirit of Weber and Hummel never far from the writing table.