Davidsbundlertanze, Op. 6 / Fantasie in C major, Op. 17

"Schumann is obviously a composer with whom she feels a special affinity, and to whose music she brings a whole suite of special qualities...She naturally inclines towards the more introspective side of Schumann rather than his ebullient, extrovert alter ego, and infuses the more lyrical parts of the cycle with warmth and expressive generosity" The Guardian, 16th September 2010 ****

"The quality she brings is the one they most need - an overarching concentration that stops them splintering apart, while maintaining a sense of poetry and spontaneity...the music's Janus-faced personality is enmeshed in almost every bar, to thrilling effect in Uchida's magisterial performance, which exults in Schumann's temperamental extremes while also harmonising them." Financial Times, 25th September 2010 *****

"...revelatory and supremely satisfying...Her account of the great C major Fantasie (also recorded under studio conditions at Snape Maltings) sits alongside some of the greatest committed to disc - Schumann the poet and virtuoso evoked in perfect balance" Sunday Times, 3rd October 2010 *****

"This seizes you by the scruff of the neck within seconds. Uchida...find[s] a different colour for every one of the 18 pieces. The coda to No13 is the most astonishing example of pianistic virtuosity I've heard in years." The Telegraph, 5th October 2010 *****

More than 15 years since her acclaimed album of Carnaval and Kreisleriana [catalogue number 4758260], Mitsuko Uchida marks the Schumann bicentenary 2010 with her first recordings of two of his best-loved works for solo piano - Davidsbündlertänze and Fantasie.

With this new album, recorded at the Maltings at Snape, Dame Mitsuko shares the wealth of her experience as a Schumann interpreter - bringing to these enigmatic, questing pieces her celebrated musicality and depth of feeling.

Written after Schumann was again in touch with his beloved, Clara - whose father was determined she should never marry him - the Davidsbündlertänze are at once an outpouring of Schumann's feelings for her and a struggle between the two sides of the composer's own musical nature. Fantasie is a deeply introspective soliloquy, beautifully reflected through the emotional complexity of Mitsuko Uchida's pianism.