C. Schumann & C. M. Weber: Piano Concertos

Clara Schumann, for so long best known as the wife of her composer husband Robert, has in recent years emerged from his shadow. A composer herself, and a brilliant pianist, Clara’s own music is increasingly recognised as much more than a footnote in the Schumann family story. The German pianist Luisa Imorde puts Clara’s Piano Concerto—written when she was still the unmarried Clara Wieck—at the heart of a new album which also features pieces by Carl Maria von Weber. The Concerto was premiered by Clara herself in 1835 when she was just 15, conducted by her fellow composer Felix Mendelssohn. “Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto is a youthful work with a bold idea,” Imorde tells Apple Music Classical. “Its second movement seems to have remained unique in history to this day. A solo cello and solo piano play a romance, while the rest of the orchestra remains silent.” Imorde also references on the album the intense love which Clara and Robert felt for one another in their marriage, by including Clara’s transcriptions for piano of some of his songs. “The wonderful songs of Robert Schumann have been accompanying me for a long time, and thanks to Clara’s arrangements, they can be heard on this album without a singing voice,” Imorde explains. “‘Widmung’, ‘Der Nussbaum’and ‘Die Lotosblume’ belong to Myrthen, Robert’s wedding gift to Clara. You cannot find more romantic and heartfelt love songs than these.” Alongside Clara’s music sits another underappreciated concerto from the early Romantic era. “Carl Maria von Weber’s First Piano Concerto touches me with its dignity, playful lightness and special radiance,” says Imorde. “For conductor Marie Jacquot, the Bremen Philharmonic and myself these concertos really were a treasured discovery.”