Schumann: Pappillons & Kinderszenen / Brahms: Opp. 117 & 118 – Sarah Beth Briggs

   in Piano International (Mar, 2019)
As Sarah Beth Briggs’ own booklet notes make clear, Clara Schumann is central to this intriguing, delightfully played and generously filled disc of works by Schumann and Brahms. While Kinderszenen (1838) was inspired by a comment Clara made about Schumann’s occasional child-like nature, Brahms’ valedictory sets were written with his lifelong unrequited love very much in mind. Clara was the first person to see the three Intermezzi and these and the remaining collections (Opp 116, 118 and 119) in turn encouraged her to revisit Kinderszenen. And if Papillons (1831) arose from quite different inspiration (Jean Paul’s novel Flegeljahre), somehow the young Clara Wieck still seems to hover in the background.

Framing …