‘There is no composer to whom I feel closer than to Schumann. He has been a beloved friend since I was a child; I remain as
fascinated today as I was then by his unique blend of poetry, ecstatic strength and confessional intimacy.’
Steven Isserlis’s own words give the background to this fascinating disc.
Schumann’s affection for the cello ran deep. It was an instrument he had played in his youth, and considered taking up
again when, at the age of twenty-two, an accident to his hand forced him to relinquish his dream of being a virtuoso
pianist. ‘I want to take up the violoncello again (one needs only the left hand for this) and it will be very useful to me in
composing symphonies’, he wrote to his mother. The sound of the cello played without the right hand would have been
somewhat minimalist; but his love for the instrument is clearly demonstrated by the cello parts in all four of his
symphonies, as well as in the concertos for piano and violin, and of course throughout his chamber music. As the great
musicologist Donald Francis Tovey put it: ‘The qualities of the violoncello are exactly those of the beloved dreamer
whom we know as Schumann.’