“I have been hearing drums and trumpets in my head for days”, Robert Schumann wrote to his friend Felix Mendelssohn in 1845. Here Schumann was describing not only his emotional state, but also the musical ideas leading him towards the composition of his Symphony No. 2. The Freiburg Baroque Orchestra under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle combines this impressive multi-layered work with Schumann’s Violin Concerto which was never performed during the composer’s lifetime. Performing on historical instruments, the ensemble and soloist Isabelle Faust approach Schumann’s emotionally complex tonal world, laying bare the roots of this brilliant composer of the Romantic period.

Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
overture for the opera Genoveva, Op. 81 (1847/48)

Violin Concerto in D minor, WoO 1 (1853)

Symphony No. 2 in C major, Op. 61 (1845/46)

Isabelle Faust – violin

Freiburger Barockorchester
Sir Simon Rattle – conductor