Schumann’s Cello Concerto Rediscovered.Inher first Urtext edition for Edition Peters, internationally renowned cellistJosephine Knight reveals Robert Schumann’s original version of his CelloConcerto in A minor Op. 129 – a piece he actually called a ‘Concertstück’ –removing generations of inauthentic editorial interventions. This is the onlyavailable modern scholarly edition of the work as Schumann originallyconceived it, and restores the text from October 1850, based on the composer’smanuscript held in the Biblioteka Jagiellonska in Kraków. It is presented in abeautifully printed edition for cello with Schumann’s original pianoreduction. Matching orchestral material is also available from the publisher. Onlymodern Urtext edition based on Schumann’s original 1850manuscript Manynew corrections and clarifications, especially to the cellopart Scholarlypreface detailing history of the work and this edition by editor JosephineKnight, Piatti Professor of Cello at the Royal Academy of MusicLondon CelloPart contains Josephine Knight's fingering and bowingsuggestions CriticalCommentary Matchingorchestral material available separately from EditionPeters Recordingof the Concertstück featuring Josephine Knight available fromDuttonRobertSchumann’s tragic last years have mired many of his greatest works inunnecessary doubt. The story of the suppression of his Violin Concerto bywell-meaning friends is relatively well-known. Few, however, know that theversion of the Cello Concerto that is routinely heard today is so far fromSchumann’s original conception of the work – not only in details of phrasingand articulation, but also featuring a different ending with a bold finalflourish from the cello. Composed in a burst of inspiration in two weeks inOctober 1850 shortly after he and Clara had moved to Düsseldorf, Schumann (whoin 1850 was still in good health) never heard the piece performed. In aneffort to promote a performance of the work, he gave the score to the cellistRobert Emil Bockmühl. Bockmühl made revisions that Schumann resisted, and thehoped-for performance never happened. Schumann’s health failed and he diedaged just 46 in 1856. The Concerto, in an already substantially revised form,was premiered in 1860 but it was not given significant recognition until itwas championed by Pablo Casals in the 20th century by which time (and since)the text for the work had accreted additions and alterations from generationsof soloists.NowJosephine Knight, Piatti Professor of Cello at the Royal Academy of Music,London has returned to the original 1850 manuscript of the work, which is inthe Biblioteka Jagiellonska in Kraków, to reveal Schumann’s original thoughtsfor the first time in a modern Urtext edition. The edition reflects Schumann’soriginal conception of the work as a Concertstück and restores Schumann’smusical text, free of posthumous interventions. It is presented in abeautifully printed edition for cello, with Schumann’s original pianoreduction. Matching orchestral material is also available from the publisher.‘Myultimate wish,’ says the editor, ‘is to give performers both access to, andconfidence that they are playing from, an edition which is a truerepresentation of the piece in its original form, no matter how much moredifficult this might be. I found that incorporating the changes enabled thepiece to take on a completely different character – one that is lighter andhappier, even “cheerful”, as Schumann himself described the work. ’
