The wonderful Leon McCawley continues his exploration of 19th century repertoire for SOMM with the piano music of Robert Schumann, one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. He begins with the delightful five-movement Faschingsschwank aus Wien, tender, stormy and passionate by turns, ending with a triumphant Finale, a real tour-de-force. He continues with Kinderszenen, one of Schumann’s most charming and imaginative creations written for his beloved Clara in 1838, and which, although simple to play, they are not pieces for children but poetic evocations of the child’s world, from a nostalgic adult perspective.

McCawley ends with the Études Symphoniques, one of Schumann’s most important and characteristic piano compositions. He wrote the Études in 1836 and dedicated them to William Sterndale Bennett who performed them widely. Schumann revised them in 1852 and at the request of Clara Schumann, they were further edited by Brahms in 1873 who restored the five variations which Schumann had inexplicably cut out. Leon McCawley, in a wholly complete performance here has chosen to play the twelve Études plus the five so-called ‘posthumous’ variations, placing them in an order in which, by instinct, feels it provides a welcome contrast between the dreamy, romantic Variations and the powerful virtuosity of some of the Études.