Schumann: Piano Concerto in A Minor / Introduction and Allegro Appassionato

Featuring

Mario Bernardi
Anton Kuerti
CBC Vancouver Orchestra
Robert Schumann

Did you know?

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Instruments

Robert Schumann's Adagio and Allegro for horn and piano was one of the earliest chamber pieces written for the recently developed valve horn, which was more flexible and expressive than its predecessor.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Robert Schumann consciously aimed to create concertos that were different from the flashy, virtuoso-focused works popular at the time, prioritizing a blend of symphony, concerto, and sonata.

Critical Reception

Early audiences and critics were bewildered by Schumann's Piano Concerto, criticizing its construction and lack of solo display, with Franz Liszt dismissing it as a 'concerto without piano.'

Performer Biography

The CBC Radio Orchestra, featured on this recording, is the only radio orchestra remaining in North America, continuing a tradition that began over sixty years ago.

Performer Biography

Anton Kuerti, the pianist on this album, is considered by many to be Canada's leading concert pianist, having toured 39 countries and performed with most major U.S. orchestras.

Composer Biography

Robert Schumann, a composer on this album, originally dreamed of a career as a concert pianist but a finger injury at age 22 ended that possibility.

Composition History

The Konzertstück for four horns and orchestra by Robert Schumann was inspired in part by the virtuoso Joseph-Rudolph Lewy and Richard Wagner, who both admired the newly developed valve horn.