CLARA SCHUMANN (1819-1896)

 

The Complete Works for Piano Solo

 

Susanne Grützmann (piano)

 

Clara Schumann (née Wieck) has gone down in history as a pianist rather than as a composer. The reasons for that have nothing to do with the quality of her compositions but rest on her decision to stop composing after the death of her husband Robert Schumann.

 

Prevailing attitudes to women were moreover not conducive, as the following entry in her diary shows: “A woman is not expected to have any desire to compose.” Yet Clara Schumann did have a desire to compose and had the ability to do so, even if she resorted to performing on the piano instead.

 

Today however, her prodigious talent is recognised, and this wonderful new CD set from Profil brings her undeservedly little-known compositions to the fore.

 

Profil 4cds PH07065