Furthermore, it should not be forgotten that Romania is also the birthplace of Dinu Lipatti… The listener has only to recall his delicate playing, all in nuances, to appreciate the lightness and purity of touch, the mastery of counterpoint, together with the eloquent and elegant phrasing that are so characteristic of Mara Dobresco’s style. Several critics have commented on her minute attention to detail (another point in common with Schumann’s music). “A maturity and sense of balance, a delicate, sensitive performance, characterised by its authenticity and rigour, with a truly romantic sense of exaltation”, wrote Anca Florea in the Bucharest Actualitatea muzical (Music News) and in the German press she has been compared to Clara Wieck – things have almost come a full circle.

Meeting Martha Argerich was a real turning point – two women moved by the same passion that the intelligence constantly seeks to control and dominate. The more experienced pianist of the two must have passed the flame of her personal approach and way of playing to the younger one – an approach that constantly tries to analyse, understand and grasp the meaning of the score with intelligence and elegance, without ever stifling the underlying emotion.

She reads music with her heart and plays it with her mind – that’s one way of describing her particular approach, but maybe the opposite is closer to the truth – she reads it with her mind and plays it with her heart. The two ways complement each other.

To come back to Clara and Robert, the two scores “Fantasie” (Fantasy) Op.17 and the “Fantasiestücke” (Fantasy pieces) Op.12 (the opus number corresponds to the date of the score) were composed in 1836 and 1837 respectively, during what was a difficult period for the future couple. Robert had courted several women before falling passionately in love with Clara. However, Clara’s father was opposed to their marriage and managed to keep his daughter locked up at home before taking her to Leipzig and Vienna. Meanwhile he spread malicious lies and rumours about Robert, who
attacked him in court and won the trial. So at last the pair could marry in all safety, and on 12 September 1840, the day before Clara’s twentieth birthday, they did so. Robert was older than his wife by nine years and three months.