Robert Schumann & Alfredo Piatti: Works for Cello & Orchestra

Schumann wrote his Cello Concerto in 1850 at a peak period; he had just moved to Düsseldorf with Clara and his six children, in order to finally be able to live from his music as the newly appointed municipal music director. However, the work was first performed by Ludwig Ebert in Oldenburg on 23 April 1960. Alfredo Piatti gave the British first performance in April 1866 in London.

In this “first recording” Josephine Knight plays her new edition, published by Peters, which aims to return the work to Schumann’s original conception. In her opinion, arrangements of the piece distanced itself greatly from Schumann’s intentions. The autograph of the cello concerto can be found in the Biblioteka Jagiellońska in Krakow. According to the original “Concert Piece for Violoncello with Orchestra Accompaniment”, the cellist came to the conclusion that it is worthwhile to return accentuation and bowing to this original, thus giving the work a much lighter and even cheerful character.