Bachtrack top ten: Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann, 1839 lithograph by Josef Kriehuber

By Mark Pullinger, 01 June 2026

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“shaping the future of Romantic music with both pen and manuscript paper”

Lawrence Dunn, 17th December

From Buxtehude, Bach and Handel, to contemporary composer Liza Lim, we take a tour of the myriad forms of composers’ handwriting and calligraphy – and how music makes itself on the page.

Gaining entry to Schumann’s Paradise and the Peri

Eleanor Knight, 5th March

Simon Rattle called Robert Schumann’s strange, Orientalist oratorio “the greatest masterpiece you’ve never heard of”. We discover this enigmatic piece ahead of Insula orchestra’s production at La Seine Musicale.

Making music humanly: Gautier Capuçon

Charlotte Gardner, 7th February

Ahead of an appearance in Lugano in March, the busy French cellist talks about his relationships with Martha Argerich, his brother Renaud, and mentoring young musicians with the Fondation Gautier Capuçon.

The most literary of all composers: Hélène Grimaud on Robert Schumann

Jessica Duchen, 20th March

The virtuoso pianist talks about Schumann’s Piano Concerto, and her fascination with the wider literary and musical world of the Schumanns.

Bachtrack top ten: ETA Hoffmann

Mark Pullinger & Elisabeth Schwarz, 22nd June

Mark and Elisabeth travel to the sinister worlds of singing automata and seven-headed mouse kings to bring you the best works inspired – and composed – by ETA Hoffmann.

Bachtrack top ten: Shakespeare in music

Mark Pullinger, 23rd April

If music be the food of love... the Bard of Stratford-upon-Avon has inspired composers for centuries. Enjoy our top ten playlist featuring works from Felix Mendelssohn to Thomas Adès.

Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.