Mendelssohn Scottish Symphony

Nobody inspired Robert Schumann more than his wife, Clara, a bright, creative spirit and pianist of huge sensitivity. Clara continually pushed her husband to write on larger scales but what she really wanted from him was a full concerto. After initial hesitance, Robert delivered a piece in which ‘the piano is interwoven with the orchestra in the most delicate way – one can’t imagine the one without the other’ (in Clara’s words). It was a picture of their love. The ‘truly outstanding’ (Gramophone) pianist Vadym Kholodenko performs Schumann’s concerto, under the baton of Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra’s conductor Hobart Earle, between the most bracing symphony by Schumann’s close friend Mendelssohn and fellow-Ukrainian Myroslav Skoryk’s ever-poignant Elegie.