Post by erik on Nov 4, 2023 22:45:21 GMT -5
One of the last works of the troubled but brilliant mid-19th century German composer is in this week's Classical Works Spotlight.
Schumann: INTRODUCTION AND ALLEGRO IN D MINOR FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA, OP. 134
Few composers have ever had so unhappy a life as Robert Schumann did. Although he was married to a fine pianist and composer in her own right, Clara Wieck, Schumann frequently suffered from mental illness, a condition that frequently affected his time composing, and which eventually led him to being institutionalized and his committing suicide at the age of 46. Because he was known during his life mostly for his piano works, his orchestrations were sometimes considered thick and muddy. As the decades have passed, however, and as both instrumental soloists and conductors have managed to find out, Schumann’s orchestral and concertante works have become standard fixtures in the repertoire. He remained of sound mind long enough to compose a full-blown piano concerto, in A Minor, that would become a standard part of the repertoire of pianists around the world; but in the time left to him, he also composed two other single-movement works for piano and orchestra. The final one of these, the Introduction And Allegro, is an exceptionally dramatic and decidedly dark piece, given that its composition in 1853 made it one of the last things he was able to compose before mental illness unfortunately set in. His wife Clara performed the work in the fall of 1853, and it was dedicated to a younger fellow German composer named Johannes Brahms, who had become a student of the Schumanns and a close friend to Clara following her husband’s tragic death. At a length of thirteen minutes, the work does require a somewhat larger orchestra than that of the Piano Concerto itself (trombones are added); and this is a starkly dramatic work in the key of D Minor that illustrates the influence of Beethoven.
Piano: MURRAY PERAHIA
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/CLAUDIO ABBADO (Sony)
Included:
PIANO CONCERTO IN A MINOR, OP. 54
INTRODUCTION AND ALLEGRO APPASSIONATO, OP. 92
Schumann: INTRODUCTION AND ALLEGRO IN D MINOR FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA, OP. 134
Few composers have ever had so unhappy a life as Robert Schumann did. Although he was married to a fine pianist and composer in her own right, Clara Wieck, Schumann frequently suffered from mental illness, a condition that frequently affected his time composing, and which eventually led him to being institutionalized and his committing suicide at the age of 46. Because he was known during his life mostly for his piano works, his orchestrations were sometimes considered thick and muddy. As the decades have passed, however, and as both instrumental soloists and conductors have managed to find out, Schumann’s orchestral and concertante works have become standard fixtures in the repertoire. He remained of sound mind long enough to compose a full-blown piano concerto, in A Minor, that would become a standard part of the repertoire of pianists around the world; but in the time left to him, he also composed two other single-movement works for piano and orchestra. The final one of these, the Introduction And Allegro, is an exceptionally dramatic and decidedly dark piece, given that its composition in 1853 made it one of the last things he was able to compose before mental illness unfortunately set in. His wife Clara performed the work in the fall of 1853, and it was dedicated to a younger fellow German composer named Johannes Brahms, who had become a student of the Schumanns and a close friend to Clara following her husband’s tragic death. At a length of thirteen minutes, the work does require a somewhat larger orchestra than that of the Piano Concerto itself (trombones are added); and this is a starkly dramatic work in the key of D Minor that illustrates the influence of Beethoven.
Piano: MURRAY PERAHIA
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/CLAUDIO ABBADO (Sony)
Included:
PIANO CONCERTO IN A MINOR, OP. 54
INTRODUCTION AND ALLEGRO APPASSIONATO, OP. 92