Schumann & Brahms

The acclaimed British pianist, Benjamin Grosvenor, still only 30 and yet a well-established favourite of critics and audiences around the globe, takes Robert Schumann's haunting Kreisleriana as his starting point in his album, 'Schumann & Brahms'. This eight-movement work portrays the mercurial personality of the fictional Johannes Kreisler, created by E. T. A. Hoffmann: Kreisler's highs and lows, and his dreamy nature, clearly mirror Schumann's own tragic manic-depressive tendencies. Grosvenor responds to the composer's autobiographical honesty with playing of sublime tenderness, dazzling variety, and imaginative empathy. He accompanies the work with the melancholic Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann by Schumann's beloved wife Clara (who, incidentally, stated that she was much disturbed by the visions conjured up in Kreisleriana). Further kaleidoscopic variety is provided by Robert's Blumenstück, and Quasi Variazione: Andantino de Clara Wieck. The recital also includes Brahms' Three Intermezzi, autumnal works which shed a fascinating light on the complicated relationship which existed between Robert, Clara and Brahms himself. Grosvenor's own arrangement of Robert's Abendlied completes the programme.

1. I. Äußerst Bewegt
2. II. Sehr Innig Und Nicht Zu Rasch
3. III. Sehr Aufgeregt
4. IV. Sehr Langsam
5. V. Sehr Lebhaft
6. VI. Sehr Langsam
7. VII. Sehr Rasch
8. VIII. Schnell Und Spielend
9. No. 2 in F-sharp Major (Einfach)
10. Blumenstück, Op. 19
11. Theme
12. Variation I
13. Variation II
14. Variation III
15. Variation IV
16. Abendlied, Op. 85, No. 12
17. Theme
18. Variation I
19. Variation II
20. Variation III
21. Variation IV
22. Variation V
23. Variation VI
24. Variation VII
25. No. 1 in E-flat Major
26. No. 2 in B-flat Minor
27. No. 3 in C-sharp Minor