Customer Reviews

Schumann: Complete Chamber Music [Box Set]

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This is the only complete set of Schumann's chamber music that I know of & having just listened to it I must say that I am very impressed, not only with Schumann's composing but with all the performances presented here!! Disc 1 opens with string quartets 1 & 2, comparable to Haydn, Mozart, early Beethoven & Mendelssohn in quality and style. Both are well constructed in the classical form and quite beautiful & lovely. Disc 2 contains the 3rd string quartet which shows some development in the form, a little more adventurous than the 1st two, which leaves me to wonder what heights Schumann would have achieved had he continued writing in the genre. Next up are his 3 piano trios & Phantasiestucke for piano, violin & cello op. 83, brilliantly written and one of the highest points of the set for me: the strings here are played with a rather rough edge, bringing out the best qualities of the cello & violin as far as my taste is concerned. Very lively and rich sounding, as the strings would continue to be throughout the rest of the set. Disc 4 contains excellent versions of the piano quintet & quartet, again, outstanding!! Disc 5 contains a work for clarinet & piano which is very beautiful, and three of the most brilliant works for viola that I've ever heard(trio for clarinet, viola & piano, op. 132, Marchenbilder for viola & piano op. 113, and adagio & allegro for viola & piano op. 70); how often do you hear the violin's deeper voiced cousin featured as a lead instrument? Not often in my experience, and the viola shines here!! Discs 6 & 7 round out the collection with great works for cello & piano and Schumann's violin sonatas, respectively. Very rich, beautiful recordings as is true with the whole set. Groups & performers featured here include the Alberni Quartet, the Israel Piano Trio, the Nash Ensemble as well as Thomas Rajina, Ivan Klansky, Beata Cywinska & Serouj Kradjian on piano; Jolanta Bartosiak on viola(WOW!!); Marek Jerie on cello & Ara Malikian on violin. Outstanding composing meets outstanding musicianship here on all seven discs for a bargain price. Highly recommended!!

Enjoy :-)

I just received this collection as a gift after hearing parts of it on Pandora. The first disk of the collection opens with the sublime First Quartet. As much as I love many of the other pieces, it's proving difficult to listen past the first disk because I keep repeating it.

The String Quartets are some of the most abstract music that Schumann wrote, without any program, limited to the range of color strings provide, and deprived even of Schumann's favorite instrument, the piano. As such, they represent his compositional craft at its purest and best. The piano quintets, sonatas, and fantasies are also wonderful.

All of the performances are great, with compelling dynamics and tempos that express the soul of the music without overplaying. The production is relatively crisp but not thin, with each instrument distinct, a comfortable room sound that supports the intimate but social quality of the music.

This reasonably priced collection is worth the investment with nearly seven hours of delicious music. For the Schumann lover, I also recommend his complete symphonies performed by the Vienna Philharmonic with Leonard Bernstein--a very different sort of music experience.

Schumann died at a relatively young age. Somehow he managed to write some of the most beautiful music in the world. His chamber works were especially charming, and a must-have in anyone's collection. I chose this set because it contained every piece he wrote, from the precision of the string quartets to the sonatas for cello and piano, or violin and piano. plus great renditions of his piano trios. There is just so much talent these ensembles put into the pieces that it was well worth the purchase.

Schumann: Complete Chamber Music (Box Set):

If you like chamber music, Robert Schumann (1810-1856) has written some very relaxing music in this genre. There are String Quartets, Piano Trios, Piano Quintets, and Ensembles on this 7 CD boxed set.

These recordings are on the Brilliant Classics label and are digital and analog/digital, but they sound great and are recorded mainly in the United Kingdom and Germany. I found these recordings most relaxing and they are great for back ground music. When I need a music for thinking, choosing Schumann's chamber music helps me and I find that it works well, at least with me, at lowering my blood pressure.

This is the first set that is complete. The length of the CD's are: 49:40, 62:04, 73:57, 55:22, 50:02, 48:03, and 72:50 from 1 through 7. So, there is enough to choose from to fit your mood at the time.

CD 1: String Quartets 1 & 2 by the Alberni Quartet

CD 2: String Quartet #3, Alberni Quartet and Piano Trio #1, Israel Piano Trio

CD 3: Piano Trios 2 & 3 Phantasiestucke Op.88, Israel Piano Trio

CD 4: Piano Quintet and Piano Quartet with Thomas Rajna, piano and the Alberni Quartet

CD 5: Marchenerzahlungen (Fairy Tales) Op. 132 Fantasiestucke Op. 73, Marchenbilder Op. 113, Adagio & Allegro Op. 70 with the Nash Ensemble, Jolanta Bartosiak, Viola and Beata Cywinka, piano; CD 6: Adagio & Allegro Op. 70, 3 Romanzen Op. 94, Fantasiestuke Op. 73, 5 Stucke im Volston Op. 102 with Marek Jerie, cello and Ivan Klansky, piano;

CD 7: Violin Sonatas with Ara Malikian, violin and Serouj Kradjian, piano.

These recordings are clear and you can hear the different instruments. They are well balanced and you can hear the spacial separation, especially on a Blu-ray player. CD 5 has Piano, clarinet and viola and you can hear clean sounds with separation in the sonorous notes as these instruments play giving rise for generous oppertunities to transition betweenn the movements. The transtions betwen the instruments plays well. These are the most beautiful works and my favorite in the grouping. The Fairy Tales are among the very few works in chamber music repertory that are scored for the same combination as Mozart's Trio, K. 498.

Just sit back, relax and enjoy this complete set of Schumann's Chamber Music. There are no major artists on these CD's, but I find that some of the best music isn't recorded by major artists. 5 stars is well deserved for this music and there is a well detailed booklet that explains the different times in Robert Schumann's life when he wrote this chamber music.

Nothing outstanding, either in performance or sound, but solid and good.