Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Chamber works with wind instruments
Drei Romanzen for oboe and piano, Op 94 (1849)
Fantasiestücke for clarinet and piano, Op 73 (1849)
Adagio und Allegro for horn and piano, Op 70 (1849)
Andante und Variationen, Op 46, WoO 10.1 for two pianos, two cellos and horn (1843)
Philibert Perrine (oboe), Florent Pujuila (clarinet), Félix Roth (horn), Caroline Sypniewski and Sarah Fouchenneret (cellos), Hortense Cartier-Bresson and Théo Fouchenneret (piano)
rec. live 7 October 2022, L’Estran à Guidel, France
B Records L’Estran Live LBM058 [46]

In his Master Musicians book on Schumann, Eric Frederick Jensen tells us that in 1849 the composer wrote forty works, many of them counting as Hausmusik, which means utilitarian works intended for home consumption. These works come into this category. Schumann wrote for a variety of instruments, as you can see, but, possibly under pressure from his publisher, said that other instruments could be substituted for those he had written for. Indeed, that is how they are often played, but here we have them as originally intended.

The Drei Romanzen for oboe and the Fantasiestücke for clarinet are similar, in that each is a cycle of three short pieces, rather in the style of Schumann’s earlier cyclic works for the piano. Or indeed his more recent Album for the Young, which had been a great success. They are all charming pieces, attractively varied, not particularly demanding for the wind player, though rather more so for the pianist. They are not, and do not aspire to be, major works.

The Adagio und Allegro for horn is rather different in that the Adagio is straightforward, but the Allegro is extremely virtuosic. The valve horn had recently been invented and allowed not only a complete chromatic range for the instrument but also greater agility. Schumann exploits that to the full here, as he was also to do in his Konzertstück for four horns, written in the same year.

There are several other sets of these short pieces from Schumann, such as the Märchenbilder for viola and piano Op 113 and the Märchenerzählungen Op 132 for clarinet, viola and piano, which might have been included. Instead, however, we have a real rarity, the Andante und Variationen Op 46 in its original version for two pianos, two cellos and horn. This unlikely combination hardly ever appears on concert programmes for obvious reasons, and indeed Schumann later revised the work for just two pianos, omitting some passages. Here we have it in all its impractical glory. Schumann writes for this ensemble as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and it is a work appreciated in a recording, since you are unlikely to hear it in the concert hall.

That, however, is how the audience for these performances heard all these works, since this is a recording of a live concert. The performers are a French team, but they seem thoroughly at home in Schumann’s world of German domestic music making. The recording is good and clear; there is applause only after the final work. The booklet turns out to be a single-folded sheet, but no matter. If you like the programme, this will do nicely.

Stephen Barber

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