Lara Downes
For Love of You
Clara & Robert Schumann
Lara Downes
San Francisco Ballet Orchestra
Martin West, Conductor
Available on September 13 on Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, and most streaming services. Distributed by Naxos of America.
Lara Downes continues her celebration of phenomenal women in music with For Love of You,
a tribute to Clara Schumann, both pianist and composer, in celebration
of the 200th anniversary of her birth (9/13/1819). The solo piano works
on this recording date from the last three tumultuous and decisive years
of Clara and Robert’s courtship, before their marriage in 1840. These
imaginative and emotionally profound pieces – Robert’s Fantasiestücke,
Op. 12 and Clara’s Romances, Op. 11 – illustrate the passion and
creative synergies that brought two great artists together, despite
obstacles and struggles, into a union that produced some of the greatest
works of the Romantic era. Robert’s Piano Concerto, was written at
Clara’s incessant urging and under her guidance, intended as a vehicle
for her pianistic brilliance. Downes performs the concerto here in
tribute to the remarkable woman who coaxed this music into existence
and brought it to life under her hands – a lasting testimony to Robert’s
love for his Clara.
No comments:
Post a Comment