Robert Schumann - Frauenliebe und Leben

Available for over a year

Robert Schumann's setting of poems by Adelbert von Chamisso, Frauenliebe und Leben, is a controversial concert choice in a post 'me-too' era. A male poet and male composer giving voice to a female narrator who describes her adulation for a man, her blossoming love, sex and ultimately sense of abject loss is tricky for any self-respecting female performer. But the craft and skill of the composing, the relationship Schumann had with his brilliant young wife Clara and the way that is reflected in the manuscript and the music is at the heart of this episode of Tales from the Stave. Clemency is joined by Sopranos Naomi Louisa O'Connell and Alla Kravchuk along with pianist Brent Funderburk and the Juilliard professor Michael Griffel who explore the corrected copyists manuscript and the more extraordinary sketches made over two days, in which Schumann set down a clear vision of the full eight song cycle.. Producer: Tom Alban