Clara Wieck Schumann: Art of Preluding Mo-Ah Kim pf CD Baby 2353004X, 2019 (1 CD: 35 minutes). $21.69 - Clara Schumann: Romance – The Piano Music of Clara Schumann Isata Kanneh-Mason pf, Jonathan Aasgaard cond. Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Decca 4850020, 2019 (1 CD: 76 minutes), $13.95

Abstract

Philharmonic Orchestra, form part of a welcome re-appreciation of Clara Schumann's work as performer, composer and educator. 1 These discs contribute richly to the serious, sustained effortspurred on by the two-hundredth anniversary of Schumann's birth in September 2019to expand our understanding of her work through dialogues across performance, musicology and pedagogy. This allows us to learn more about Clara Schumann and to understand the vital role she played in the development of pianism, with its multifaceted richness, in European classical music.Clara Schumann was the daughter of Friedrich Wieck (1785-1873, originally a household tutor who, despite being mostly self-taught in music, 2 developed a highly sophisticated pedagogical system for teaching piano), and Marianne Wieck, née Tromlitz (1797-1872, a soprano soloist and pianist with the Leipzig Gewandhaus). We cannot determine how much Marianne Wieck's skills in both areas of piano and singing might have influenced the young Clara, as the Wiecks divorced when she was only four and a half years old, andin accordance with Saxon lawher father became her sole legal guardian from when she was five. 3 However, we do know that the importance of piano tone, especially the 1 For more on Clara Schumann's role as an educator see Natasha Loges, 'Clara Schumann's Legacy as a Teacher',