The year 1850 was a productive one for Schumann. He had just taken up his new post as director of music in Düsseldorf
and it was here, in a veritable frenzy of creativity, that he wrote his Cello Concerto op. 129 in A minor in barely two
weeks. Not only was it his first great work for violoncello and orchestra, it remains one of the most frequently
performed of all violoncello concertos. As Sol Gabetta notes, it is clear from the work that the great Romantic composer
was immensely happy at this time: You can sense Schumanns emotional state in the music. It is all cast from the same
mould. Originally described as a Concertstück (concert piece), the work is made up of three movements that are
seamlessly joined together, creating a continuous stream of music in which the violoncello is the ideal vehicle for
Schumanns musical ideas. The opening movement is notable for its inward-looking melancholy, the slow second movement for
its dreamy wistfulness, while the third is a lively, almost folklike envoi. As the violoncellist emphasizes, Schumann
was ahead of his time when he wrote this work. Unlike earlier concertos in which the orchestra tended to accompany the
solo instrument, the orchestra is now the soloists equal. Sol Gabetta, who was born in Argentina but who now divides her
time between Switzerland and Paris, has performed this concerto many times in the course of her international career, of
course. But she has now decided to record it for Sony Classical together with a number of other works by Schumann. She
is joined by a group of fellow musicians who are among her closest friends. The Cello Concerto was recorded with the
famous Basel Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Giovanni Antonini, one of the pioneers of early music. Concerts
and s with the Basel Chamber Orchestra are like a family reunion for Sol Gabetta: I more or less grew up with
this orchestra. It gave me my first big break before I became known as a soloist. I now know every one of the players
and weve worked together on numerous projects, growing together until we are now one big family. In 2015 Sol Gabetta
made an accled of Beethovens Triple Concerto with the orchestra and Antonini as well as with the violinist
Giuliano Carmignola and the pianist Dejan Lazic. Sol Gabettas Schumann album also features three chamber works that she
recorded in Paris with the French pianist Bertrand Chamayou, with whom she has worked for many years. The works in
question are the Fantasy Pieces op. 73, the Adagio and Allegro op. 70 and the Five Pieces in Folk Style op. 102. In
1849, a year before composing his Cello Concerto, Schumann had developed an intense interest in chamber music, an
interest that resulted in several different works for a melody instrument and piano. Among them are the Five Pieces in
Folk Style op. 102 for violoncello and piano, the Fantasy Pieces op. 73 that were originally scored for clarinet and
piano and the Adagio and Allegro op. 70 that were originally intended for horn and piano. But according to Schumann,
these character-pieces can also be played on a melody instrument such as the violoncello.