Party at the Schumanns’ House

MUSIC GIVES A SOUL TO A PARTY. Not recorded music; that’s a cop-out which has become all too normalized because we’ve gotten so far away from making our own. I’m talking about putting that piano to use, or hauling out that guitar. Playing chamber music is a rich form of conversation, richer than party chatter. You listen to your fellow musicians in a manner that invites each instrumental voice to inhabit yourself even as you subsume yourself to the music you’re making.

The Schumanns – Clara and Robert – knew this. True, they were in the business of writing music, but when their musical friends stopped by, pleasant sounds were heard. This is the premise of “An Invitation at the Schumanns,’” a recording by the Paris-based Trio Dichter, an ensemble made up of pianist Fiona Mato, violinist Théotime Langlois de Swarte, and cellist Hanna Salzenstein.

As we expiate our sins of a patriarchy that demanded we celebrate Robert Schumann’s works and ignore those of Clara, his wife, we are discovering that she was a dab hand at composition herself, even as she was tasked with raising the children. Two of her works grace the program: the first of her Three Romances, Op 22, for violin and piano, and a Notturno for solo piano drawn from her Soirées musicales, Op. 6. These are beautiful performances – but they also convey the sense of intimacy you’d enjoy in the music salon of an accommodating home.

Perhaps it’s the piano. A Bösendorfer grand from 1890 was borrowed from the Museum of Music in Paris. It’s a piano with a big sound, but not the ring-the-rafters sonority of a newer Steinway. It’s big yet intimate, and Mato draws from it a range of passions – tender in that Notturno, sprightly but melancholy in Bach’s Little Prelude in E minor and a G-minor sonata by Scarlatti that lacks a Kirkpatrick number, triumphant in Robert’s Piano Trio No. 2, heard here in its entirety.

In fact, it’s the centerpiece of the recording. Of the musical soirée, as I prefer to think of it. It’s the big piece (in this context), a four-movement work written in 1847, showing Schumann’s skill at form and melodic invention. Don’t get too distracted by the gorgeous violin melody that opens the second movement, for example, because you’ll miss the canonic byplay going on behind it from the cello and piano. Violinist de Swarte is heard on a violin built in 1700 by the Neapolitan luthier Gagliano; cellist Salzenstein is playing on a 1734 Guarneri.

You’ll hear that cello to excellent effect in two of Robert’s “Funf Stücke im Volkston,” Op. 102. The first, marked “Mit Humor,” isn’t exactly a knee-slapper, but you don’t want these parties to get out of hand. The second, “Langsam,” is all about an endearing melody offered in warm, lush tones.

There’s always material should a singer stop by. In this case, baritone Samuel Hasselhorn offers two songs by Robert: the well-known “Widmung” (Dedication), to a text by Rückert, and “Meine Rose,” one of those mock-joyful meditations on sorrowful love. And there are two by Clara-worshiper Brahms: “Schwesterlein” (Little Sister), to a traditional text about uncertain love, and “Wiegenlied” (Lullaby), with a tune so famous you might be inclined to forget it’s by Brahms. Very nice work on Hasselhorn’s part, maintaining the intimate feel of the proceedings while doing full justice to the emotion in these lyrics.

Two lesser-known composer-buddies also are honored here: Niels Gade, with an “Elegie” from a set of pieces titled Watercolors, here effectively arranged for violin and piano, and Theodor Kirchner’s “Song without Words,” Op. 83, Book 1, No. 6, for piano trio – evocative enough to foreshadow his rumored affair with Clara after Robert died.

One of the couple’s best friends was Mendelssohn, represented by the other large work on the program, his Andante & Allegro assai vivace, Op. 92, for piano four-hands. Mato is joined by Jorge González Buajasan for a triumphant performance.

What also makes this recording so effective is the program order of the sixteen pieces heard herein. There’s a special sensitivity in the flow of the pieces, which contrast with one another even as they complement each other in the differing soundscapes offered by the instrumental variety. Overall, it’s a great concept, but it wouldn’t work so well if these weren’t first-rate, very talented performers. I’m hoping for another invitation before long.

An Invitation at the Schumanns’
Trio Dichter, with guests Samuel Hasselhorn and Jorge González Buajasan
Harmonia mundi