ORION ENSEMBLE

Robert Schumann only became 46. Despite his brief life his influence on music was great. In the work of his wife Clara and of his friends Kirchner and Brahms many traces can be found of an enormous admiration for the music of Robert Schumann.


Their common appreciation and love of the elder Robert connected these three composers in a lifelong friendship.
A remarkable role in the circle around Robert Schumann plays the comparatively unknown composer Theodor Kirchner. By both Brahms and the Schumann couple he was seen as one of the best composers in their time. He was a virtuoso pianist, full of humour but always pressed for money with, so it appears, a chaotic character. Was he therefore outshone by his famous friends?
One of the items of this programme is the piano trio by Clara Schumann. Kirchner turns up in various guises: as composer of the delightful Noveletten, opus 59, but also as virtuoso orchestrator of trio opus 36 by Brahms.

O die Frauen-Johannes Brahms
Noveletten, opus 59 – Theodor Kirchner
Trio opus 17 – Clara Schumann
Trio, opus 36 – Johannes Brahms

(choice of music with reservation )