"Schumann: Grand Sonata in F# minor: I" genre: Romantic
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	This is the first sonata that Schumann ever completed, and perhaps the most daring of the three that he composed. It was written in 1832-6 and published in 1836 as Opus 11 under the names of Florestan and Eusebius, the two fictitious characters representing the two polar aspects of Schumann's personality. The Sonata is dedicated to Clara Wieck, the famous virtuosa who eventually became Schumann's wife after several tumultuous years of courtship. The Sonata's first movement is based, in fact, upon two motifs from Clara's youthful "Fandango." The Sonata's second movement - the sublime Aria - is a transcription of Schumann's own early song "To Anna" (1828). The Scherzo (third movement) is full of daring surprises, the biggest of which - a caricature of the recitative from the third movement of Beethoven's Opus 110 - comes in the Intermezzo (the Scherzo's second Trio). The Finale - a rondo of gigantic proportions - is remarkably "carnavalesque" in its array of contrasting characters, and builds up to a rousing close.
	MP3.com CD: ROMANTIC SONATAS - buy it! CD: ROMANTIC SONATAS Credits: Recorded live 3/17/92, Jordan Hall, Boston

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