Clara & Robert Schumann: Piano Concertos

Clara Wieck Schumann (Composer), Robert Schumann (Composer), Johannes Wildner (Conductor), Neue Philharmonie Westfalen (Orchestra), Margarita Hohenrieder (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Margarita Hohenrieder
• Orchestra: Neue Philharmonie Westfalen
• Conductor: Johannes Wildner
• Composer: Clara Wieck Schumann, Robert Schumann
• Audio CD (May 20, 2003)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B00005V8X6
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #419,527 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Clara Schumann, December 30, 2009

By 

Roderick Keech (Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Clara & Robert Schumann: Piano Concertos (Audio CD)

I am writing this review purely on the performance of Clara Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 7, as there are so many recordings of her husband's famous concerto in the same key (Op. 54) that a review would be somewhat unnecessary, given the luminaries who have recorded that work.

I purchased this CD, along with several others featuring Clara Schumann, as there seem to be few reviews, and of those, most describe the work as juvenile and ungainly.

Granted, it may not meet the criteria of the truly great piano concertos (Lizst, Rachmaninov, Grieg etc) but is certainly of interest and worthy of examination.

I first came across the piece on the radio in an all female enterprise (Composer, Conductor, Orchestra) The Women's Philharmonic: Fanny Mendelssohn: Overture (c. 1830) / C. Schumann: Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 7 / G. Tailleferre: Concertino for Harp and Orchestra (1927) / Boulanger: D'un Soir Triste (1918); D'un Matin de Printemps (1918). I was disappointed with the recorded sound and the performance, despite its novel nature.

Having sifted through several other recordings, I feel this is truly the best, with both pianist and orchestra at one with each other, and with the best possible sound. While the coupling is appropriate and the playing entirely compentent, it isn't in the same league as Leif Ove Andsnes and the Berlin Philharmonic Schumann & Grieg: Piano Concertos; Leif Ove Andsnes, which is to be expected.

Buy this for the Clara Schumann concerto and enjoy what I think is the best performance of this somewhat unjustly criticised work.