Comments on: Schumann’s hidden masterpiece

By: Kenneth Woods

Kenneth Woods — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 17:00:22 +0000

I don’t believe so- it was written for his friend Joseph Joachim. There is, however, and arrangement of the Schumann Cello Concerto for Violin and Orchestra made by Schumann himself (also made for Joachim), which may be the source of the confusion.

By: David M. Rothberg

David M. Rothberg — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 16:15:38 +0000

I have read somewhere that Schumann’s D-minor concerto was original composed as a cello concerto. Is there any truth to this?

By: Kenneth Woods

Kenneth Woods — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 22:19:04 +0000

Dear Peter

Great comment- thanks for writing. You might also be interested in my Dec 7 concert with Orchestra of the Swan in Stratford. We’re doing Schumann and Gal 3rd symphonies. It’s a great programme, and the beginning of a major recording project to do all four symphonies by both of these under-rated masters. Hopefully we can do the Schumann concerti as well.

By: Peter Nunn

Peter Nunn — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 17:21:10 +0000

I’m supposed to be doing something else, but I have become obsessed with the Schumann Violin Concerto in recent months, having never heard it at all until last year. That I heard it then was an accident – trying to collect everything that Schumann wrote in time for the double centenary I found a recording in a charity shop. Now I cannot get enough of it and I cannot image why this remarkable music has been ignored by so many front rank artists. I need to hear it in the concert hall and I am sorry that I missed your performance of it. However, as I have moved from London to near Guildford, Surrey, I will make it my duty to attend your concerts. A major concert organiser told me in the summer that Schumann had had ‘a bum deal’ as far as his double centenary was concerned even in his own concert series, which did at least include all the symphonies played by the Bremen Chamber Orchestra – superb! And I lashed the editor of Gramophone for the same reason, calling him
a Philistine of the 21st Century! He didn’t like it, but he gave scant space to Schumann and his music. Keep up the good work.

By: Dan Sneed

Dan Sneed — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:44:45 +0000

Thanks for your response Ken. It’s pretty cool to correspond with a real live conductor!
I am looking forward to next year and hope to get to Germany for some Schumann concerts. I’m a member of the Robert Schumann Gesselschaft in Dusseldorf and will probably head for that area.

If I can get to Oregon next October I’ll be at your concert featuring the Second Symphony. Having heard it in Berlin, Paris, Philadelphia, Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio it might be time to add Pendleton to the list.

And I hope to be able to pick up any and all Schumann recordings you make in future.
Keep up the good work!

By: Kenneth Woods

Kenneth Woods — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 15:52:46 +0000

Hi Dan-

Great to hear from you, and thanks for the kind words. Hopefully you’ll be a happy man with the upcoming Schumann anniversary year. SMP and I are continuing our Schumann cycle with the 4th (in the final version) later this spring, and I”m also doing the 2nd with the Cheltenham Symphony in May. I really think the fiddle concerto is very special- hopefully Alexandra and I can record it one of these years. She played it magnificently.

Thanks again for writing!
Ken

By: Dan Sneed

Dan Sneed — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 15:14:46 +0000

Great article on my favorite composer’s glorious Violin Concerto. I’ve known the piece for several years through recordings (Zehetmair’s w/ Eschenbach and the Philharmonia remains my favorite) and was fortunate to finally hear it live with Isabelle Faust and the Berlin Philharmonic (Sakari Oramo conducting) on January 24th of this year.

Keep up the great writing on Schumann. I continue to enjoy your ariticle on Schumann’s brilliance as an orchestrator, which he indeed was.

Since John Daverio’s death several years ago we’ve not had a true champion for our composer. Nice to know we have another one now – and one who’s on the podium putting into practice what he preaches.

By: Kenneth Woods- a view from the podium » A duty of care to the unknown…

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:21:32 +0000

[...] I got a nice mention on the excellent Through These Ears in an interesting post about the job of the Music Director, one inspired in part by this article in the Washington Post- Aside from having high performance standards and a good working environment, there are other benefits for everyone when the relationship works well. For instance, I just noticed this post by Kenneth Woods about a bit of programming he’s doing for his upcoming season with the Surrey Mozart Players. He’s programming a much neglected piece he has always wanted to hear live, and is well aware of the pitfalls of trying to do such a thing. This kind of enthusiasm and dedication to the art is great for the orchestra and the audience, as well as being a personal moment of musical satisfaction for the music director. That kind of thing won’t happen very often in other business arrangements. James Levine gets to do lots of his beloved Elliott Carter and other contemporary music because it’s his show. Similarly, Salonen can keep doing works by his old schoolmate Magnus Lindberg with LA. The same goes for Leon Botstein and the American Symphony Orchestra, or, as the above article metions, the NSO can now add more contemporary works from other countries after Leonard Slatkin’s departure. [...]