The Schumann Violin concerto

Hi, Bagis. Schumann's Violin Concerto was his last orchestral work. His dedicatee, the great but at that time very young violinist Joachim, didn't collaborate with the composer. There, the problems started. The work is not violinistic. It's a hell of an unnecessary technical trouble for practically any violinist on account of all the unnecessary difficulties posed by the seriously ill and mentally unstable Schumann, at the very last years of his life. Joachim himself stated that the work is too "taxing both technically and musically". Particularly, the last movement is terribly difficult to the detriment of the music itself and the work as an entity. There are enormous demands in terms of sonority, technique and, eventually, interpretation.

The bad health and the lack of emotional stability of the composer is apparent in the work. Some musicologists of the time, like Kurt Pahlen, were extremely negative for the work, claiming that "with the exception of few very beautiful passages, the work contains nothing but study material for psychiatrists"!

The problematic situation of the work is obvious as for its first edition; it appeared only in 1937, as a result of the Nazi regime to replace the then discredited "Jewish" Violin Concerto by Mendelssohn with a very "Aryan" one, working as the bridge between the brilliant Beethoven's and the grandiose one by Brahms. The violin part has been edited again in 2009 by the great violinst Thomas Zehetmair, showing how the violinsts struggle with the work.

There are some recordings by some brave violinsts. Apart from the ones mentioned by John and yourself, please note:

The most recent is the Vol.13 from the series of the "Romantinc Violin Concertos" of Hyperion, scheduled to be released on Sept. 3, with the quite promising Anthony Marwood and the BBC Scottish S.O. under D. Boyd.

Another quite solid performance is by the serious German violinst Christian Tetzlaff and the Frankfurt R.S.O. under P. Jarvi, on Ondine.

A good, solid performance by the quite interesting violinst Philippe Graffin under C. Poppen, on Onyx is another very good recent alternative.

Finally, the most recent and best recorded (in SACD) by BIS is the performance with the quite impressive Ulf Wallin, a true and devoted advocate of Schumann's music (he has recorded all the Violin Sonatas by Schumann, on BIS too). He is accompanied by the Robert-Schumann-Philharmonie under their conductor Frank Beermnann. It's the only performance, where the original material from the composer's autographs has been used, as the basis of the recording!

Good exploration, hunting and eventual listening,

Parla