Imogen Cooper plays Schumann.
Here are the selections on this recording:
- Piano Sonata No. 1 in F sharp minor, Op. 11
- Romance in F sharp major, Op. 28 No. 2
- Humoreske, Op. 20
- Romanze in B minor
- Le Ballet des Revenants (Scène fantastique)
Performed by Imogen Cooper, piano.
This album can be viewed as a dialog between Robert Schumann and his wife, pianist, and composer Clara Schumann.
It is as though there is a presence of words in this music: from the Lied-like melody in the love duet that is Robert’s ‘Romance’ to the ‘Humoreske’, an imaginary song inspired by Clara.
Even the Piano Sonata by Robert Schumann was dedicated to Clara, and this relationship also produced Clara’s ‘Scène fantastique’.
Robert Schumann’s Sonata No. 1 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’.
Here is Imogen Cooper playing the Fantasiestucke, Op. 12, #2, “Aufschwung” by Robert Schumann
And next, here she is in a performance of Brahms’ Theme and Variations in D minor:
Tags: Imogen Cooper, Robert Schumann, Clara Schumann, Romanze, Humoreske Op. 20, Piano Sonata Op. 11