Robert Schumann

Forest Scenes op. 82 (Forest Scenes)

Schumann's Forest Scenes op. 82 date from 1848/49, the composer's most creative period, which was also characterized by revolutionary unrest and political uncertainty.
In addition to choral compositions and major dramatic works, including the opera Genoveva and Manfred, Schumann created the intimate piano cycle of his Forest Scenes, which was inspired by pictures of forest scenes. The last piece in the cycle, the dreamy, filigree Vogel als Prophet (No. 7), is probably the best-known piece in the cycle.
The pieces, which are not too technically demanding, enchant with their songlike poetry and are a jewel of Romantic domestic music-making.

With the Waldszenen op. 82, Bärenreiter presents one of Schumann's most popular piano cycles and not least of the Romantic piano literature in a critical-practical Urtext edition that reflects the latest state of research.
The fingerings take into account contemporary performance practice as well as playing on the modern concert grand piano.


The leading German pianist Ragna Schirmer
has not only earned her excellent reputation as a two-time winner of the Leipzig Bach Competition, but has also underpinned it with numerous awards - including two ECHO classical music prizes.
She has long been particularly interested in historically informed performance practice on modern instruments, which she most recently proved with the highly acclaimed complete recording of the piano suites by George Frideric Handel. In addition to her international career, Ragna Schirmer currently teaches as a professor at the Mannheim University of Music and at the Halle Special School Latina August Hermann Francke.
The works of Robert and Clara Schumann play a central role in Ragna Schirmer's oeuvre. She has recorded Beethoven's Etudes and Robert Schumann's Symphonic Etudes on CD and also addressed the couple's relationship in the staged concert Ich möchte lachen vor Todesschmerz with great success. She gained important practical performance insights during concerts on Clara Schumann's original Grotrian grand piano from 1879, which now flow into her source-critical study of Clara's fingerings for Schumann's Waldszenen op. 82.