Robert Schumann’s Bunte Blätter (‘Colourful Leaves’), encompassing works composed between about 1836 and 1849, is unique in Schumann’s output: under the umbrella of the collection as a whole there are two, smaller collections plus six individual pieces, each a finely-cut gem that sparkles in the hands of Artur Pizarro. Schumann’s Sonata No. 1 in F-sharp minor, Op. 11, is a work of precocious coherence in which innovations abound, and the programme also includes the Allegro, Op. 8, a powerful movement that unfolds in the manner of a fantasia.
