Catalogue

Summary:

“’Valse Noble, ‘Réplique and ‘Chopin’ are beautifully voiced (and this is a feature overall). The ferociously difficult Reconnaissance’ is played with delicacy and charm… The softer pieces work beautifully: the Semplice section of No. 7 is magical, the Prestissimo of No. 9 breathlessly breakneck. The Op. 4 Intermezzi … is especially impressive here. The closing Abegg-Variations again include some gorgeously inward, soft playing.”  Natasha Loges, BBC Music magazine

“a beautifully executed programme … the disc as a whole is really beautifully put together and it’s really lovely, it makes you feel good when you’re listening to it” – Record Review, BBC Radio 3

PRESTO Classical Recordings of the Year – Finalist 2024

Presto Music Interview

Gramophone magazine podcast, with James Jolly

“magnificently hued, delicately controlled new recording” – Exclusive magazine

The Young Schumann, the new release by British pianist Charles Owen, is a musical narrative of Robert Schumann’s early career, featuring works written in the 1830s when the composer was in his 20s. His first two published works, Abegg Variations and Papillons, the impetuous six Intermezzi, Op. 4, and the characterful Carnaval, Op. 9, are all fuelled by some of Schumann’s compositional hallmarks: his imagination and attraction to the fantastical, his love of ciphers and cryptograms, and his frequent quoting of each work within the others.

Tracklist:

ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810–1856)

Carnaval, Op. 9
1. No. 1 Préambule
2. No. 2 Pierrot
3. No. 3 Arlequin
4. No. 4 Valse noble
5. No. 5 Eusebius
6. No. 6 Florestan
7. No. 7 Coquette
8. No. 8 Réplique
9. No. 9 Papillons
10. No. 10 Lettres dansantes
11. No. 11 Chiarina
12. No. 12 Chopin
13. No. 13 Estrella
14. No. 14 Reconnaissance
15. No. 15 Pantalon et Colombine
16. No. 16 Valse allemande
17. No. 17 Paganini
18. No. 18 Aveu
19. No. 19 Promenade
20. No. 20 Pause
21. No. 21 Marche des Davidsbündler contre les Philistins

Papillons, Op. 2
22. Introduction. Moderato – No.1, Waltz in D Major
23. No. 2 Waltz in E Flat Major. Prestissimo
24. No. 3 Waltz in F Sharp Minor
25. No. 4 Waltz in A Major. Presto
26. No. 5 Polonaise in B Flat Major
27. No. 6 Waltz in D Minor
28. No. 7 Waltz in F Minor. Semplice
29. No. 8 Waltz in C Sharp Minor
30. No. 9 Waltz in B Flat Minor. Prestissimo
31. No. 10 Waltz in C Major. Vivo – Più lento
32. No. 11 Polonaise in D Major
33. No. 12 Finale in D Major

Intermezzi, Op.4
34. I. Allegro quasi maestoso
35. II. Presto a capriccio
36. III. Allegro marcato
37. IV. Allegro semplice
38. V. Allegro moderato
39. VI. Allegro

40. Variations on the name ‘Abegg’, Op. 1

Charles Owen, piano