REPERTOIRE: The set covers all the types of music Schumann wrote: piano solo, symphonic, concerto, chamber and Lied.

PIANO: Classics such as Träumerei (Dreaming) and the Arabeske in magical performances by Horowitz and Pires respectively; Ivo Pogorelich’s riveting rendition of the super-virtuosic Toccata and three selections from Nelson Freire’s Carnaval, full of panache.

SYMPHONY / CONCERTO: The invigorating first movement of the Rhenish Symphony under Gardiner opens the set, followed later by the searing slow movement from the Second Symphony in Bernstein’s almost Mahlerian interpretation; Rafael Kubelik’s Manfred Overture is full of drama, and both Karajan and Solti offer classic accounts of the Scherzi from the Third and Fourth Symphonies. Radu Lupu revels in the rollicking finale to the Piano Concerto, Lynn Harrell offers an impassioned account of the Cello Concerto’s slow movement

VOCAL: Matchless performances from Dichterliebe by Fritz Wunderlich, Bryn Terfel sings favourites including Der Nussbaum and Du bist wie eine Blume, and there are classic recordings from Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. Rarities include a charming chorus from Gardiner’s celebrated recording of Das Paradies und die Peri.

CHAMBER: Driven, vibrant accounts of movements from the Piano Quintet from the Hagen Quartet and Paul Gulda, and from the First Piano Trio by the Beaux Arts Trio; plus passionate violin and piano from Gidon Kremer and Martha Argerich in the First Violin Sonata.

Artists

Everett Porter (videoscripteditor), Thijs Hoekstra (videoscripteditor), Carl Schuurbiers (videoscripteditor), Tjeerd Veeger (videoscripteditor), Matthijs Ruijter (videoscripteditor), Nelson Freire (piano), Bryn Terfel (bassbaritonevocalist), Malcolm Martineau (piano), Oliver Curdt (videoscripteditor), Paul Gulda (piano), Hagen Quartett (stringquartet), Wolfgang Mitlehner (videoscripteditor), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone), Christoph Eschenbach (piano), Gernot Westhäuser (videoscripteditor), Ivo Pogorelich (piano), Brigitte Fassbaender (mezzo-soprano), Irwin Gage (piano), Klaus Behrens (videoscripteditor), Mischa Maisky (cello), Martha Argerich (piano), Classic Sound (videoscripteditor), Radu Lupu (piano), Vladimir Horowitz (piano), Fritz Wunderlich (tenor), Hubert Giesen (piano), Lynn Harrell (cello), Beaux Arts Trio (pianotrio), Menahem Pressler (piano), Isidore Cohen (violin), Peter Wiley (cello), Vladimir Ashkenazy (piano), Lucinda Houghton (soprano), Donna Deam (soprano), Susanna Spicer (contralto), Jacqueline Connell (contralto), Katherine Fuge (soprano), Constanze Backes (soprano), Gidon Kremer (violin), Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo-soprano), Bengt Forsberg (piano), Maria João Pires (piano), Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, Wiener Philharmoniker, London Symphony Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker, Cleveland Orchestra, Monteverdi Choir, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Leonard Bernstein, André Previn, Rafael Kubelik, Sir Georg Solti, Sir Neville Marriner, Herbert von Karajan