One doesn't often get a chance to hear Schumann's Vom Pagen und der Königstochter ("Of the Page and the King's Daughter") a score from 1852 in the form of an epic drama in four movements, for soloists, choir and orchestra. In it, the composer uses the form of a recitative with accompaniment which surely prefigures high Wagner in terms of the vocal and orchestral treatment. The album continues with another rarity, the Cantata BWV 105 by Bach as revised by Schumann, probably for a performance when he was the musical director at Düsseldorf. For sure, the "arrangement" is pretty modest – or, rather, non-existent – in the choral overture and the first recitative, with the first big surprise coming in for the first soprano air: instead of an oboe interweaving finely with the singing, Schumann plumped for... the clarinet! You'll love it or hate it. The following recitative, a sublime bass arioso, also unadulterated; the bass aria which follows uses a romantic horn instead of the corno da tirarsi stipulated by Bach, a fairly modest alteration; the final chorale is also untouched, up to and including the extraordinary "slowing-down" writing for strings, which is entirely Bach's. The main difference here has to do with the fact that the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra plays on instruments from Schumann's century and in keeping with Romantic attitudes – something which Bach's score can happily handle, precisely because this is one of his most "Romantic" cantatas. The album closes – as remarkable as it may seem – on a discographic world first for Schumann! It seems that the Adventlied Op. 71 was never recorded until this album was made. That being said, it's clear why singers and orchestras haven't been in a hurry to tackle this rather ethereal, bloodless score: a blind listen would rather give the impression that this is a nice try by a forgotten composer at putting out some sub-Schumann stuff. But at least the enthusiast can now boast of having heard a "lost" Schumann! © SM/Qobuz