Loving Schumann [CD]

A recognised specialist in the music of Robert Schumann (he recorded the complete works for solo piano between 2000 and 2010 for Alpha Classics), the French pianist eric Le Sage has devised this programme as a tribute to those who loved Schumann and to the woman he loved: Clara Wieck, of course - who would go on to become Clara Schumann despite her father's opposition to their marriage - but also Johannes Brahms, Gabriel Faure and Camille Saint-Saëns. Alongside their Variations on a Theme by Schumann, we find music by Robert, who also wrote Variations on a Theme by Clara Schumann, as well as two piano transcriptions of his Lieder, including the famous Du bist wie eine Blume, completed the day before their wedding.