Beethoven Academie . Philippe Cambreling

The first part of Schumann's Piano Concerto opus 54 was originally conceived as a work in its own right. Despite a successful first performance of this 'Phantasie für Klavier mit Begleitung eines Orchesters' in 1841, with Clara Schumann at the piano and Felix Mendelssohn conducting, not a single publisher could be found for the work. In 1845 Schumann took up the 'Phantasie' once again and added a slow section and a finale, so creating a three-part Piano Concerto. 'Somewhere between a symphony, a concerto and a big sonata,' is how Schumann described the 'Phantasie' and the same applies to the Piano Concerto. This work is not intended purely as a display of virtuosity, but argues rather for lyrical-poetic outpourings in which the piano and orchestra are treated as chamber music equals. The 1849 'Introduktion und Allegro, opus 92' is in the same spirit as the Piano Concerto. Schumann's Second Symphony is chronologically actually his third. He started sketching it in December 1845, immediately after completing the Piano Concerto, and finished it a year later, when the first signs of his mental illness appeared. The Second Symphony is the expression of his pain and his conquest of it, which may explain the triumphant main key of C major.