What if female musicians of Clara Schumann’s calibre had received the same opportunities as her husband Robert and their protégé Johannes Brahms? Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra and Music Director Alexander Shelley continue revelatory recording project with second release in four-album series. This one, "Lyrical Echoes", couples Second Symphonies of Robert Schumann and Brahms with a dozen exquisite songs by Clara Schumann, performed by acclaimed Canadian soprano Adrianne Pieczonka and pianist Liz Upchurch.
Music history might have taken a different turn if female musicians of Clara Schumann’s calibre had received the same opportunities as her husband Robert and their protégé Johannes Brahms. Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra and its Music Director Alexander Shelley raise the "what if" question with their ongoing recording project Clara – Robert – Johannes, placing works by each composer in context to highlight their collective contribution to nineteenth-century culture.
Alexander Shelley has worked with Clara Schumann scholar Julie Pedneault-Deslauriers and Brahms biographer Jan Swafford to create programmes that illustrate the lives and works of the three composers. Each album couples one of the four symphonies of Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms with a representative selection of Clara Schumann’s chamber works, songs and extant orchestral pieces, including several rare and special gems. Clara – Robert – Johannes – "Lyrical Echoes" explores the flowing lyricism and heartfelt expression common to every composition on the album.
“These recordings are part of the NAC Orchestra’s work to look again at the great diversity of composers from the past and create new opportunities for today’s composers and creators regardless of their gender, ethnicity or background”, observes Alexander Shelley. “Clara, one of the great pianists of the age, was much more famous on the international stage than her husband. It’s fascinating to follow the lines of influence that connect the songs she wrote during the early years of her marriage to the second symphonies of Robert Schumann and Brahms. I have discovered fresh things in both orchestral works from listening to Clara’s songs and am delighted to be able to share that with others”. © Analekta