Clara - Robert - Johannes: Darlings of the Muses Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra & Alexander Shelley

• Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856): Symphony No. 1 in B-Flat Major, Op. 38 “Spring”:
• 1 Symphony No. 1 in B-Flat Major, Op. 38 “Spring”: I. Andante un poco maestoso – Allegro molto vivace 11:18
• 2 Symphony No. 1 in B-Flat Major, Op. 38 “Spring”: II. Larghetto 06:11
• 3 Symphony No. 1 in B-Flat Major, Op. 38 “Spring”: III. Scherzo : Molto vivace 05:44
• 4 Symphony No. 1 in B-Flat Major, Op. 38 “Spring”: IV. Allegro animato e grazioso 08:47
• Gabriela Montero (b. 1970):
• 5 Improvisation No. 1 05:46
• Clara Schumann (1819 - 1896): Piano concerto in A Minor, Op. 7:
• 6 Piano concerto in A Minor, Op. 7: I. Allegro maestoso 06:30
• 7 Piano concerto in A Minor, Op. 7: II. Romanze : Andante non troppo con grazia 04:56
• 8 Piano concerto in A Minor, Op. 7: III. Finale : Allegro non troppo – Allegro molto 11:03
• Gabriela Montero:
• 9 Improvisation No. 2 03:20
• 10 Improvisation No. 3 03:35
• 11 Improvisation No. 4 02:25
• 12 Improvisation No. 5 03:43
• Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897): Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 68:
• 13 Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 68: I. Un poco sostenuto – Allegro – Meno allegro 16:09
• 14 Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 68: II. Andante sostenuto 09:05
• 15 Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 68: III. Un poco allegretto e grazioso 05:14
• 16 Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 68: IV. Adagio – Più andante – Allegro non troppo, ma con brio – Più allegro 18:25
• Total Runtime 02:02:11

Info for Clara - Robert - Johannes: Darlings of the Muses

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Clara Schumann’s birthday, the National Arts Centre Orchestra is releasing three digital-only teaser tracks to herald in its next recording cycle, launching spring 2020.

This recording cycle explores the closely intertwined personal and artistic connections between three musical giants: Clara Schumann, Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms. NAC Orchestra Music Director Alexander Shelley is working with Clara Schumann scholar Julie Pedneault-Deslauriers, and Brahms biographer Jan Swafford, to shape an insightful narrative illustrating the lives and works of these three Romantics. Robert Schumann’s and Johannes Brahms’ symphonies will be paired, and combined with Clara Schumann’s chamber works and extant orchestral pieces, including some special gems.

“I have always loved these symphonies and saw many links between them. It was a real pleasure performing them with this Orchestra in 2016, and it’s always been my dream to record them and release them together. No story of these two composers is complete without Clara, much more famous in her lifetime than her husband, and a strong influence on both Robert and Johannes. We crafted this vision with Clara Schumann scholar Julie Pedneault-Deslauriers, to combine the symphonies with pieces by Clara in ways that provide an insightful narrative to the intertwined lives and works of these three Romantics.”- NAC Music Director, Alexander Shelley.

Angela Hewitt, piano
Yosuke Kawasaki, violin
Orchestre du Centre national des Arts du Canada
Alexander Shelley, conductor

Alexander Shelley
is Music Director of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra and Principal Associate Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also Artistic Director of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen’s ECHO and Deutsche Gründerpreis winning “Zukunftslabor”. In August 2017 Alexander concluded his tenure as Chief Conductor of the Nürnberger Symphoniker, a position he held since September 2009. The partnership was hailed by press and audience alike as a golden era for the orchestra, where he transformed the ensemble’s playing, education work and international touring activities.

Unanimous winner of the 2005 Leeds Conductor’s Competition, he has since worked regularly with the leading orchestras of Europe, North America, Asia and Australasia, including the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, NDR Orchester Hannover, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Orchestre National de Belgique, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Gothenburg Symphony, Stockholm Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic and Milwaukee, Melbourne and New Zealand Symphony Orchestras.

Alexander’s operatic engagements have included The Merry Widow and Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet (Den Kongelige Opera); La Bohème (Opera Lyra/National Arts Centre), Iolanta (Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen), Così fan Tutte (Opéra national de Montpellier) and The Marriage of Figaro (Opera North) in 2015. In 2017 he led a co-production of Harry Somers’ Louis Riel with the NACO and Canadian Opera Company.

Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra
is a world class ensemble of musicians from across Canada and the world, under the inspiring leadership of Music Director Alexander Shelley.

Formed in 1969, the orchestra gives about 100 performances a year in Ottawa, across Canada and around the globe, working with diverse artists of international renown. It breaks boundaries with its regular commissions of new creations including the critically-acclaimed, immersive Life Reflected.

Askonas Holt collaborated with the NAC for the first time in 2019, on a nine-date European tour celebrating the orchestra’s 50th anniversary. In addition to symphonic concerts in Saffron Walden, London, Utrecht, Copenhagen and Stockholm, the orchestra presented the extraordinary Life Reflected to audiences in Paris and Gothenburg.

This album contains no booklet.