A superb disc that
will, I hope, act as an introduction
for many to the music of Clara Schumann.
Sub-Robert this ain’t. Clara has a personality
all of her own, at once more ‘open-air’
than her husband, and at times (concerto)
decidedly Chopinesque. If there is one
thing that runs through all 54 minutes
of this disc, it is Clara’s sure compositional
voice; there is a confidence here that
assures the listener that all is in
hand.
The dense A minor tutti
that opens the concerto immediately
impresses – big and dramatic, things
of import are clearly afoot. The piano
enters quite early; certainly earlier
than expected on first hearing, that’s
for sure - about 45 seconds in, in fact.
Chopinesque filigrees are common (see
above), and are wonderfully sensitively
rendered by Francesco Nicolosi - the
only male musician here, as the orchestra
is all-female, as is the conductor.
The recording allows for the frequent
intimacy of expression to register,
a trait particularly welcome in the
Romanze second movement (essentially
a Nocturne). Here Clara’s invention
is at its height. It certainly seems
to inspire Nicolosi, who shades melodies
exquisitely including the right-hand
octave melody around 1’50. Also noteworthy
is the way, after extended solo piano,
a solo cello emerges from the piano
texture. A final surprise is the subtle
and effective use of timpani roll (4’40-‘50).
A trumpet introduces
the finale, a triple-time dance-like
movement that is, unusually, the longest
movement; 11’30 as opposed to 7’08 for
the first movement and 4’52 for the
second. The reintroduction of a slower
tempo at around 6’15 is noteworthy and
effective. This is a lovely movement
– Clara even stretches her contrapuntal
muscles, and piano-woodwind dialogue
is a delight.
The Piano Trio appeared,
if memory serves, on a BBC Music Magazine
cover disc in around 1995/6. A disc
on Hyperion’s Helios label couples it
with Fanny Mendelssohn’s Trio (Dartington
Trio, CDH55078). It deserves multiple-versions
in the catalogue; if anything, it is
an even better work than the Concerto
- it dates from eleven years later.
Nicolosi, Bonussi and Noferini (the
latter two not even listed on the disc
cover) work very well indeed as a team,
as polished and responsive to each other
as they are to Clara’s stream of inspiration.
There is hardly any
gap between first and second movements
- just a couple of seconds. Surely a
few more seconds’ breather would have
been in order, Naxos? Still, the ‘Scherzo’
(confusingly marked ‘Tempo di Menuetto’)
is highly sweet. The Andante is a gorgeous
utterance, but the tempo the players
set is surely closer to an Adagio? Also
there seems to be uncharacteristically
stilted playing from Nicolosi at the
opening - some accents are on the lumpy
side. Could this be because the work
was recorded in one day and there was
not time for a retake? Tender interchanges
later do actually banish memories of
this, though. The finale is gentle,
but includes the only real compositional
miscalculation, a fugal passage that
just sounds contrived.
Do not let that put
you off, however. This is an important
disc that I for one hope will introduce
new listeners to this important composer.
Colin Clarke
Francesco Nicolosi (piano); bRodolfo
Bonucci (violin); bAndrea Noferini
(cello); aAlma Mahler Sinfonietta/Stefania
Rinaldi. 
