On Clara Schumann’s 200th birthday, September 13, the first Beethoven releases flooded our editorial offices, announcing LvB’s 250th birthday in 2020. Little was said about Clara, more or less as little as about Leopold Mozart, whose 300th birthday was on 14 November. Yet, there is one musician who loves Clara dearly, John Axelrod. Having recorded Clara’s Lieder together with the Brahms Symphonies in 2013 and 2014 (Pizzicato reviews are here and here) he came up with a very original and clever initiative. He got the rights back from Telarc for the Schumann songs with Felicity Lott (her last recording), Indra Jones, Nicole Cabell and Wolfgang Holzmair (Axelrod himself is at the piano). And he is using this music now for a website with more than one political tongue in cheek: https://claraforpresident.com/.
« To vote for a woman as good as Clara….could do wonders for the world, especially to celebrate the Clara200 in a unique way…. », Axelrod says. « If Clara was alive today with all her talents and skills, she would not only be a good president, but prime minister and Kanzler ».
John Axelrod (c) D.Vass
On the website we read: « Clara Schumann is the ideal role model. Better than Clinton and Warren? Yes she is. She showed men how to do it by heart. Gutsy and glamorous, Clara is world famous for her career, is a mother of eight children (yes, 8!), an esteemed educator and editor, and a devoted wife and friend to some of the greatest intellectuals and artists of the world. This is the woman we have been waiting for. »
Don’t’ ask why, since Axelrod has a powerful answer ready: « With Clara, we can return our values of integrity, creativity, beauty, truth, and most of all, love, to our nation. Why? Comparing Clara with the other candidates, we would say at once that she surpasses them all in that great quality which we sum up expressively by the word soul. »
So, go to this website, vote for Clara and with a small donation, you can even receive a signed CD and a Clara-T-Shirt.
J.A.: « It’s right on schedule and relevant to empower a great woman during the time of women. And maybe hopefully we can get Trump out of there… »
