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ROBERT SCHUMANN
(1810-1856)
Humoreske, Op. 20 (1838-39)
27:08
in B flat major - in B-Dur - en si bémol majeur
Frau Julie von Webenau, geb. Baroni-Cavalcabò zugeeignet
1.
Einfach - Etwas lebhafter - Sehr rasch und leicht - Noch rascher - Erstes Tempo -
4:57
2.
Hastig - Wie außer Tempo - Nach und nach schneller - Nach und nach immer lebhafter und stärker -
4:37
3.
Einfach und zart - Intermezzo - Adagio -
4:57
4.
Innig - Schneller - Sehr lebhaft - Immer lebhafter -
6:28
Stretta - Mit einigem Pomp -
5.
Zum Beschluß - Adagio - Adagio - Im Tempo - Adagio - Allegro
6:08
6.
Romanze (1839)
4:05
in F sharp major - in Fis-Dur - en fa dièse majeur
No. 2 from Drei Romanzen, Op. 28
Graf Heinrich II reuss-Köstritz zugeeignet
Einfach
CLARA WIECK-SCHUMANN
(1819-1896)
7.
Romance (1833-36)
3:07
in B major/B minor - in H-Dur/h-Moll - en si majeur/si mineur
No. 3 from Quatre Pièces caractéristiques, Op. 5
Andante con sentimento - Con anima
8.
Le Ballet des Revenants (1833)
5:06
(Scène fantastiques)
in B minor - in h-Moll - en si mineur
No. 4 from Quatre Pièces caractéristiques, Op. 5
Allegro ma non troppo - Con moto - L'istesso tempo - Più moderato
ROBERT SCHUMANN
Sonata, Op. 11 (1833-35)
31:43
in F sharp minor - in fis-Moll - en fa dièse mineur
Clara zugeeignet von Florestan und Eusebius
9.
Introduzione. Un poco Adagio - Allegro vivace
11:24
10.
Aria
3:23
11.
Scherzo e Intermezzo. Allegrissimo - Più Allegro -
5:47
(Tempo I) -
12.
Finale. Allegro un poco maestoso - Allegro più
11:06
Total time: 71:13
Solo:Imogen Cooper piano
17-20 March 2014
Notes
This is the eagerly awaited second volume in the new collaboration between Chandos and Imogen Cooper. In this series, she brings her virtuosity and poetic touch to the repertoire of one of the central German romantic composers. Known as a Schubert expert, she has recently turned to Schumann in an equally successful way, which she proved in her much-lauded first volume (CHAN 10755). The Snape Maltings concert hall and Nicholas Marston’s detailed notes are respectively ‘an excellent complement’ (musicweb-international.com) and ‘an added bonus’ (Gramophone) to the series.
The new album is an implicit dialog between the two Schumanns, the presence of unspoken words sensed at every point: from the Lied-like melody in the love duet that is Robert’s ‘Romanze’ to the Humoreske, an imaginary song inspired by Clara. Even the Sonata was dedicated to Clara, ‘by Eusebius and Florestan’, fictive characters who represent the dual poetic sides of Schumann’s nature. This imaginary world was the frame for Clara’s ‘Scène fantastique’ – referred to as ‘Doppelgänger Chorus’ in the long, yet often passionately hopeful, correspondence which Clara and Robert carried on during their courtship.
Robert Schumann’s Sonata i F sharp minor is also one of the most emblematic pieces in the romantic repertoire for piano, in which, as Imogen Cooper explains, ‘a much darker side of Schumann is at work, one that is frenetically driven, as if with no inner parameters to guide him’. She adds: ‘Great energy, emotional and physical, is needed from the performer, and great willingness from the listener, who must open him- or herself to this somewhat rollercoaster experience, without defences.’
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Reviews
“… Sandwiched between the two major works is the lovely Romanze by Robert and the pieces by Clara. The Ballet des Revenants is particularly fascinating in its imaginative structure. Cooper plays these with love and affection. Nicholas Marston’s notes are good, and Cooper makes her own contribution as well.”
Alan Becker – American Record Guide – May/June 2015
**** (Exceptional Disc) *** (Good Sound)
Stéphane Friédérich – Classica magazine (France) – May 2015
" Cooper asserts her stylistic credentials right at the start of the disc in Robert’s Humoreske, playing with a warm, golden tone and fluidly finding that distinction between the extrovert and introvert traits that were the key to Schumann’s musical personality Cooper’s articulation is clearly defined but also effectively varied in touch and colour, her phrasing in the more meditative music is mellifuous, a quality that beautifully spills over into the F sharp major Romanze and also into the Aria that forms the second movement of F sharp minor Sonata " ****
Geoffrey Norris - The Sunday Telegraph - 14 February 2015
Performance **** Recording ****
“… A rich, empathetic and beautifully calibrated recital.”
Jessica Duchen – BBC Music magazine – March 2015
“… one cannot deny the understanding, individuality and poetic refinement in Cooper’s playing, and the inclusion of piano music by the composer’s wife is a fascinating broadening of our listening experience… it is a delight to encounter two items from Clara Schumann’s Op 5. She was clearly a genuine composer of no little creative talent, and these performances, full of graceful, finely drawn and characterful playing, are much to be applauded. They are also extremely well recorded, as is the whole of this fascinating and important disc, which has an added attraction in particularly thoughtful and intelligent notes by Nicholas Marston.”
Robert Matthew-Walker – International Record Review – January 2015
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