Schumann, Clara - Complete Works for Piano Solo, The

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GRAMOPHONE EDITOR'S CHOICE



'Clara Schumann may be one of music history’s more controversial characters (the cellist Steven Isserlis once told me he rated her among the world’s great villains, while others admire her) but this lovely recording of her solo piano music proves a delight. If there is none of her husband’s blazing inspiration, there is great warmth and virtuosity to remind all that Clara was a peerless pianist.'

(Gramophone)



Clara Schumann (1819-1896) has gone down in history as a pianist rather than as a composer. The reasons for that have nothing to do with the quality of her compositions but rest on her decision to stop composing after the death of her husband Robert Schumann. Prevailing attitudes to women were moreover not conducive, as the following entry in her diary shows: "A woman is not expected to have any desire to compose." Yet Clara Schumann did have a desire to compose and had the ability to do so, even if she resorted to performing on the piano instead.
Susanne Grützmann, piano