Brahms and the Schumanns

Cover design for the album being discussed (with its own take on trios)

This past Friday harmonia mundi s.a.s. released a new album of music composed during the nineteenth century by a close-knit community of composers. In chronological order of the year of birth, those composers are Robert Schumann, Clara Schumann, Joseph Joachim, and Johannes Brahms. The entire album is framed by Brahms.

It begins with his contribution to the “F-A-E Sonata,” whose movements were distributed among Robert Schumann, Brahms, and Schumann's pupil Albert Dietrich. That movement was the third of four, which, as is often the case, was a Scherzo. The album then concludes with a full composition by Brahms, his Opus 114 clarinet trio in A minor.

Each of the other three composers is represented by a single composition. The Joachim selection is his Opus 9, the three-movement “Hebrew Melodies,” scored for viola and piano. The other two selections are arrangements for viola and piano by the album’s violist, Tabea Zimmermann. They are works by the two Schumanns, beginning with Robert’s Opus 94 set of “Three Romances,” followed by Clara’s Opus 22, which is also titled “Three Romances.” For all of these selections, the pianist is Javier Perianes; and Jean-Guihen Queyras plays cello in the performance of the Opus 114 trio.

I suspect that some listeners will approach the program for this album with the old joke that “this is the sort of thing that people who like that sort of thing are bound to like.” By way of disclaimer, I am one of those “people!” That said, I appreciate how this album was conceived to provide a particular window on the nineteenth century in Europe. All of the composers have been familiar to me as I have cultivated my listening experiences; but I have to admit that I found the overall design of the album to be an absolute delight, no matter how many jokes may be made about it!