Tandis que les premiers essais de composition réalisés en 1838/39 par Schumann pour cette discipline reine de la musique de chambre restèrent à l état de fragment, les trois Quatuors à cordes op. 41 en la mineur, Fa majeur et La majeur furent écrits d un seul trait entre juin et juillet 1842. Lors des premières exécutions privées, les auditeurs furent émerveillés et les compliments qu il reçut de Mendelssohn en personne incitèrent Schumann à dédier les nouvelles oeuvres à son ami. Sûr de lui, il écrivit alors à son éditeur: «Croyez-moi, je me suis donné toute la peine de monde pour produire quelque chose de respectable; je pense parfois avoir même donné le meilleur de moi-même.» Comme chacun sait, l opus 41 de Schumann fait aujourd hui partie du répertoire de base de tout musicien de quatuor.
SKU: BR.EB-32032
ISBN 9790004186343. 9 x 12 inches.
Invaluable Glimpses Schumann's close collaboration with the David quartet, together with the valuable advice of his friend Mendelssohn Bartholdy, led the composer to make extensive changes to the Streichquartette op. 41 before publication in December 1842. The present edition is hence to be thought of as a critical Urtext edition; it offers in fact to those interested, an invaluable glimpse into Schumann's creative process and his striving for the final form of his string quartets. All the deletions, changes, and the original phrasing were carefully worked out in detail, restored, and editorially identified in the music text. A detailed preface giving the geneses of the works, as well as pages of the autograph score in facsimile, complement the edition. The parts are of course so configured in the reliable Breitkopf quality that the quartets can also be performed today in the traditional form. The present edition was also used for the Leipzig String Quartet's 2010 CD recording.
SKU: BR.PB-32032
ISBN 9790004215661. 6.5 x 9 inches.
SKU: BR.PB-32032-07
SKU: HL.49015565
ISBN 9781423421047. 9.0x12.0x0.079 inches.
'I have always had a great fondness for the works by Schumann', Aribert Reimann once said. There exists a close relationship even beyond the music: As owner of Schumann's medical records from the mental asylum in Endenich, Reimann guarded the secret of the circumstances surrounding Schumann's last weeks and death.When the musical world celebrated Reimann's 70th birthday and commemorated the 150th anniversary of Schumann's death in 2006, Reimann decided to publish the records and comment on them in his book 'Robert Schumann in Endenich' (ED 9870).This book was presented to the public on 5 May 2006 at the Schumann Festival in Dusseldorf. For this occasion, as a musical bow to Schumann, Reimann composed the string quartet Adagio which the Heine Quartet premiered. Adagio is based on both Schumann's Endenich chorales 'Wenn mein Stundlein vorhanden ist' and 'Stark und Mittler, dein sind wir'.
SKU: HL.49007921
ISBN 9790001111911. 9.0x12.0x0.238 inches.
In these lieder, Robert Schumann seems to mirror his life full of crises. The composition coincides with the first signs of his illness. The picture of the drowning Ophelia evoked in the first chant conjures up the image of his suicide attempt three years later. Aribert Reimann's transcription seems to be opposed to Schumann's endeavours to make stronger use of 'the development of the accompanying instrument, the piano'. On the other hand, the complete integration of the vocal part in the musical setting of the string quartet confirms Schumann's assessment that the singing voice alone cannot 'express everything; apart from the expression of the whole, even subtle nuances of the poem shall become apparent'. These transcriptions show Reimann's sense of timbre and his many years of experience as a lied accompanist.
