Schumann: Violin Sonatas 1-3

Schumann Violin Sonatas
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Artist: Anthony Marwood, Aleksandar Madzar, Robert Schumann
Genre: Classical
Label: Wigmore Hall Live

These Wigmore Hall performan- ces of Schumann's three violin sonatas, recorded in 2010 and 2011, are extremely well turned. That is their strength and also, sometimes, their weakness. The turbulence of Schumann's music is not always fully conveyed, and Marwood and Madzar at times seem to be approaching the works with a kind of clear-cut, Mendelssohnian classicism, keeping an even keel in gentle mode, and careful to control the fire when things get heated. They're at their best in parts of the rarely heard Third Sonata, the one which began life as a composite work by Schumann, Brahms and Albert Dietrich, a gift for the great violinist Joseph Joachim, which Schumann turned into a work of his own by writing alternatives to the other composer's contributions.
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Michael Dervan

Michael Dervan

Michael Dervan is a music critic and Irish Times contributor