The National Arts Centre Orchestra is not one to shy away from a challenge, but this album series is somewhat of an anomaly, both conceptually and in terms of scale; for the third instalment to resonate so strongly is nothing short of impressive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The series began with Darlings of the Muses<\/em>, named for the title Robert Schumann supposedly gave Johannes Brahms after first hearing Brahms\u2019s music. Both of their love for Clara Schumann created a complicated dynamic that in turn influenced their music, the drama of which forms the basis of the NAC Orchestra\u2019s years-long project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The series itself has its own fraught history. The first album came out during the pandemic \u2013 May 2020, to be exact, when the torrential scale of the plague began to make itself known to the world \u2013 and the second in December 2021, when recording would likely have been difficult due to lockdown restrictions. That alone marks the third release as a display of dedication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As with these previous two albums, Atmosphere and Mastery <\/em>contrasts a symphony by Brahms against the analogous, earlier symphony by Robert that inspired Brahms. Composed in around a month, the third symphony by Robert is a cascading exploration of his emotions, from the flighty second movement to the triumphant last movement. Though it\u2019s not inspired by Clara, the strong feelings he had for her undoubtedly infused the romantic feeling of this work, as shown by the NAC Orchestra\u2019s brilliant rendition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Clara\u2019s operas feel sudden after the emotionally adventurous symphony, but the singer\u2019s soothing voice and the low intensity of the compositions makes it instantly comforting. Quatre pi\u00e8ces fugitives <\/em>and Piano sonata in G Minor <\/em>follow this calm pattern, helped immensely by the orchestra\u2019s expert pianist. The initial intensity that seeks to ease the listener out of Robert\u2019s compositions signals her grief at her husband\u2019s mental deterioration, and the calm transition shows her continuing her work as a virtuosic musician despite his tragic death. Clara is more prevalent on this album than the two previous entries in this series, which only goes to show the degree of her fame in comparison to Robert and Brahms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The piano sonata leads into the sweeping experience that is Brahms\u2019s third symphony, which contains several motifs from Robert\u2019s symphony. This composition puts much more emphasis on pairing the strings and brass instruments, giving it a deeper and more contemplative sound than the works heard so far as Brahms grapples with the drama of the Schumann family. It distinguishes him from Robert while still incorporating his melodies to reflect Brahms\u2019s similar feelings for Clara. But his melodies don\u2019t feel close to hers until her last composition on the album.The more romantic Piano Trio in G Minor, Op. 17 <\/em>picks up the pace from Clara\u2019s previously showcased works, and it emphasizes the violins more, which is the NAC perhaps demonstrating how Brahms and Clara became emotionally and musically closer as time went on. Yet her insistence on piano despite its absence in Brahms\u2019s work suggests their fate of never truly being together. It\u2019s a theme whose further exploration will be highly anticipated in the project\u2019s final instalment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n