Some of Schumann’s early songs, such as Lied für xxx, show the influence of Schubert, but it was in 1840, his ‘Year of Song’, that Schumann fully turned his attention to vocal music. The Zweistimmige Lieder, op.43, were the first that he composed after his marriage to Clara Wieck, and many of the songs from this time set texts on the subject of love. Schumann’s literary background and cultivated tastes mean that any such collection of his songs reads like a catalogue of the greatest poets of his time, with the tragic narratives of Mörike and Heine in the Romanzen und Balladen, op.64, as powerful as any opera.

The Robert Schumann Lied Edition has been one of our many ongoing and highly collectable series for many years, with each new volume eagerly snapped up by fans of vocal repertoire and of Robert Schumann, whose output in this genre was almost as prolific as that of Franz Schubert. Each volume has also been received with much critical acclaim. Vol.9 (8574029) was released in September 2020, and Vol.8 (8573944) appeared in February 2019, being a Recommended title with MusicWeb International for its ‘exceptionally high quality of the singing and playing’.