‘There is no composer to whom I feel closer than to Schumann. He has
been a beloved friend since I was a child; I remain as fascinated today
as I was then by his unique blend of poetry, ecstatic strength and
confessional intimacy.’
Steven Isserlis’s own words give the background to this fascinating disc.
Schumann’s
affection for the cello ran deep. It was an instrument he had played in
his youth, and considered taking up again when, at the age of
twenty-two, an accident to his hand forced him to relinquish his dream
of being a virtuoso pianist. ‘I want to take up the violoncello again
(one needs only the left hand for this) and it will be very useful to me
in composing symphonies’, he wrote to his mother. The sound of the cello played without the right hand would have been somewhat minimalist;
but his love for the instrument is clearly demonstrated by the cello
parts in all four of his symphonies, as well as in the concertos for
piano and violin, and of course throughout his chamber music. As the
great musicologist Donald Francis Tovey put it: ‘The qualities of the
violoncello are exactly those of the beloved dreamer whom we know as
Schumann.’
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