The last of Schumann’s Symphonies to be composed, Symphony No 3 ‘Rhenish’ was most likely inspired by a cruise taken by the composer and his wife down the river Rhine. Alternating between austere splendour, great rhythmic suppleness and soaring lines, the work is an aural depiction of rural life by the river and the majestic cathedral in Cologne, and one that dares to reflect tensions between Classical form and Romantic innovation. So too does Symphony No 4, cast in four seamless movements that show Schumann’s masterly command of interrelated material and of symphonic unity.
