Family Ties – The Schumanns and the Mendelssohns

Repertoire

• Fanny Mendelssohn Overture in C major
Clara Schumann Piano Concerto Listen
Robert Schumann Introduction and Concert Allegro Listen
Felix Mendelssohn Symphony No. 3 (Scottish) Listen

Performers

• Natalia Ponomarchuk conductor
• Alexander Melnikov piano

Sister and brother, husband and wife: for the Mendelssohns and the Schumanns, musical genius was a family affair, and when you hear their music played together it evokes a whole, wonderfully vivid world of love, friendship and imagination without limits.

The distinguished Ukrainian conductor Natalia Ponomarchuk follows Felix and Fanny from their childhood home in Berlin to the moors and mists of 19th-century Scotland, while pianist Alexander Melnikov explores the relationship between Clara and Robert Schumann – a husband and wife united in their devotion to the piano, to art and to each other.