Schumann: Poetica (2020)

Most of the music here is transcribed for cello, with only the Fünf Stücke im Volkston, Op. 102, originally written for cello and piano. The song cycle Dichterliebe, Op. 48, is simply played at pitch, but with a cello instead of a singer. A cellist of Schumann's time might easily have done that, although maybe he or she would not have run through the whole cycle; some of the transcriptions are by musicians of Schumann's era, so there's no basis for complaining that cellist Claudio Bohórquez and pianist Péter Nagy are ... Read More

Most of the music here is transcribed for cello, with only the Fünf Stücke im Volkston, Op. 102, originally written for cello and piano. The song cycle Dichterliebe, Op. 48, is simply played at pitch, but with a cello instead of a singer. A cellist of Schumann's time might easily have done that, although maybe he or she would not have run through the whole cycle; some of the transcriptions are by musicians of Schumann's era, so there's no basis for complaining that cellist Claudio Bohórquez and pianist Péter Nagy are playing fast and loose with history. However, a historically authentic recital is not what the performers are after. The album, they say, "does not standardize [these works] into part of the cello-piano repertory. On the contrary, in each of these works, [we immerse ourselves] in a thoroughly new and individual tonal landscape." They're right: it takes a different approach to the cello to realize each of these works and sets. The importance of register, for example, is especially evident... Read Less