Schumann: Symphony No.2/Overtures

To celebrate the 80th birthday of Claudio Abbado, a brand new Schumann recording with the ensemble he founded, Orchestre Mozart. Classic FM Drive Featured Album, 24 June 2013.

In the year of conductor Claudio Abbado’s 80th birthday, a new album celebrates this true legend of the world of classical music.

This collection from the maestro and his own Orchestre Mozart is dedicated to the music of Robert Schumann, and marks a departure from their ongoing exploration of the music of Mozart.

It is also the first time Abbado has recorded a Schumann symphony for Deutsche Grammophon, accompanied on this recording by two overtures - the noble Genoveva and stirring Manfred.

Abbado and the orchestra performed the Schumann symphony at Lucerne's Easter Festival, leading one critic to extol their reading as of “the purest beauty”, while another found it “liberating”.

On this recording, the symphony and the overtures are all vigorously performed with characteristic emotion and expression.