Radio 3

Live at the BBC Proms: Simon Rattle, Isabelle Faust and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra present an all-Schumann programme, including his Violin Concerto and Symphony No 2. Presented by Tom Service, live from the Royal Albert Hall, London. Robert Schumann: Genoveva – Overture Robert Schumann: Violin Concerto c.7.50pm Interval: Dr Laura Tunbridge and Tom Service explore Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 2, written during a period of personal struggle and creative renewal. Composed in Dresden between 1845-1846, the symphony reflects Schumann’s shifting states of mind, from turbulence and exhaustion to optimism and resilience. They discuss the circumstances behind the work and how he transformed his experiences into his symphony. c.8.10pm Robert Schumann: Symphony No 2 Isabelle Faust (violin) Freiburg Baroque Orchestra Sir Simon Rattle (conductor) The elusive, troubled visionary Robert Schumann is in the spotlight for Sir Simon Rattle and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra – ‘one of the most polished period-instrument ensembles in the world’ – which brings its distinctive tang and timbre to three of the composer’s best-loved works. Joy and despair, sanity and madness are in constant conflict through Schumann’s music, a battle that yields a glorious C major resolution in the overture from Genoveva and a profound, resilient optimism in the rich Second Symphony. But peace is harder to come by in the enigmatic Violin Concerto, composed on the brink of the composer’s final mental collapse. Isabelle Faust is the soloist.