Brilliant Classics
Schumann: Complete Chamber Music [Box Set]
About This Album
The complete Schumann chamber music? On just seven discs? Is that really possible? In fact, it is. Brilliant, the enterprising Dutch label, has released all the chamber music of Robert Schumann: the three string quartets, the three violin sonatas, the three piano trios plus the piano quartet, and the piano quintet along with the Romanzen, the Phantasiestücke, the Märchenbilder, the Märchenerzählung, two versions each of the Adagio & Allegro and the Fantasiestücke, plus the endlessly charming Fünf Stücke im Volkston.

The performances are a mixed bag. The biggest pieces -- the string quartets and the piano quartet and quintet -- come off the best in robust and spirited performances by the Alberni Quartet with pianist Thomas Rajna. Of the three string soloists, ardent and adroit violinist Ara Malikian suits the sonatas like a Versace while violist Jolanta Bartosiak's playing is witty but perhaps too droll and cellist Marek Jerie's tone is solid in the bottom and a bit thin on the top. The Märchenerzählung and Fantasiestücke by the Nash Ensemble's pianist Ian Brown, violist Roger Chase, and clarinetist Antony Pay are coyly delightful, but the piano trios and the Phantasiestücke by the Israel Trio are rough, raw, and insensitive to Schumann's poetic imagination.

The sound is likewise hit or miss. The English CRD label recorded the string quartets and the piano quartet and quintet in clear, cool late-stereo sound, but the piano trios are in hard, sharp early digital sound. The German Bayer label recorded the cello works in clean, close early digital sound, but the German Hänssler label recorded the violin works in tight, clingy early digital sound. While it is possible to find more successful performances of most of the works here -- there are also recordings out there by the Alban Berg Quartet, the Beaux Arts Piano Trio, Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet, and Heinrich Schiff -- the performances here are still well worth hearing for listeners who already know their Märchenbilder from their Märchenerzählung and can't wait to hear the hilarious Vanitas Vanitatum that opens the Fünf Stücke im Volkston again. ~ James Leonard, All Music Guide
Track List

Disc 1

String Quartet No.1 in A minor, Op. 41/1
1.
2.
3.
4.
String Quartet No. 2 in F major, Op. 41/2
5.
6.
7.
8.

Disc 2

String Quartet No. 3 in A major, Op. 41/3
1.
2.
3.
4.
Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 63
5.
6.
7.
8.

Disc 3

Piano Trio No. 2 in F major, Op. 80
1.
2.
3.
4.
Piano Trio No. 3 in G minor, Op. 110
5.
6.
7.
8.
Phantasiestücke (4) for violin, cello & piano in A minor, Op. 88
9.
10.
11.
12.

Disc 4

Piano Quintet in E flat major, Op. 44
1.
2.
3.
4.
Piano Quartet in E flat major, Op. 47
5.
6.
7.
8.

Disc 5

Märchenerzählungen for clarinet (or violin), viola & piano, Op. 132
1.
2.
3.
4.
Phantasiestücke (3 Fantasy Pieces) for clarinet (or cello or violin) & piano, Op. 73
5.
Märchenbilder for viola (or violin) & piano, Op. 113
6.
7.
8.
9.
Adagio & Allegro for horn (or violin or cello) & piano in A flat major, Op. 70
10.

Disc 6

1.
2.
Romances (3) for oboe (or violin or viola) & piano, Op. 94
3.
4.
5.
Phantasiestücke (3 Fantasy Pieces) for clarinet (or cello or violin) & piano, Op. 73
6.
7.
8.
Stücke im Volkston (5) for cello (or violin) & piano, Op. 102
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.

Disc 7

Sonata for violin & piano No. 1 in A minor, Op. 105
1.
2.
3.
Sonata for violin & piano No. 2 in D minor, Op. 121
4.
5.
6.
7.
Sonata for violin & piano No. 3 in A minor, WoO 27
8.
9.
10.
11.