ECM New Series: Schumann — The Violin Sonatas (Carolin Widmann, Dénes Várjon) — Audio CD

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Product Details:

• UPC: 028947667445
• Catalog Number: ECM 2047 (476 6744)
• Product Type: Audio CD
• Brand / Label: ECM New Series
• Composer: Robert Schumann
• Performers: Carolin Widmann (violin), Dénes Várjon (piano)
• Producer: Manfred Eicher
• Release Year: 2008
• Genre: Classical
• Style: Romantic chamber music

Product Features

• Format: CD
• Discs: 1
• Total time: 72:02
• Condition: Brand new, factory sealed

Overview

Schumann wrote his violin sonatas late, in 1851, during the final creative surge before his health collapsed — and they carry that intensity. This ECM disc gathers all three, including the rarely heard Third Sonata (WoO 2), reconstructed from movements Schumann contributed to a collaborative work, here given a full hearing.

Carolin Widmann and Dénes Várjon play with the searching, inward quality ECM recordings are known for. The First Sonata in A minor is restless and concentrated; the Second in D minor is broader and more turbulent; the Third sits between, fierce and fragmentary. None of this is easy or showy music — it rewards close listening.

Produced by ECM founder Manfred Eicher, the recording has the label's signature clarity and space, letting the dialogue between violin and piano register in detail. Seventy-two minutes, all three sonatas in one place — a rare complete survey of a corner of Schumann's output that deserves more attention.

Interesting Facts

• Schumann composed his First and Second Violin Sonatas in 1851, within weeks of each other, during his Düsseldorf years.
• The Third Sonata (WoO 2) grew out of the so-called "F-A-E" Sonata, a joint tribute to violinist Joseph Joachim; Schumann later expanded his contributions into a complete sonata.
• The "F-A-E" motto stood for Joachim's personal motto, "Frei aber einsam" (Free but lonely).
• Carolin Widmann is a German violinist known for her commitment to both contemporary and Romantic repertoire; her brother is the composer-clarinetist Jörg Widmann.
• Manfred Eicher founded ECM in 1969, and its New Series, launched in 1984, became one of the most distinctive classical imprints of its era.

Track Listing

• Sonata No. 1 in A minor, Op. 105
• Sonata No. 3 in A minor, WoO 2
• Sonata No. 2 in D minor, Op. 121

Total time: 72:02.

Publishers

℗© 2008 ECM Records GmbH (Munich, Germany). ECM New Series, catalog ECM 2047 / 476 6744. Produced by Manfred Eicher.

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