Cellist Maria Tchaikovskaya, first Prize Winner of the 1968 International Pablo Casals Competition and professor at the Moscow State Conservatory, works with Emily Siegreich in a master class at the Villa Sandra Lesa in Italy. Here they tackle the first and second movements from Schumann's Fantasiestücke for Cello and Piano, Op. 73.

Schumann's Drei Fantasiestücke, Op. 73 ("Three Fantasy Pieces") were composed in February 1849 in the course of just two days. Originally written for clarinet and piano, the composer himself indicated that the clarinet voice could also be played on viola or cello. The pieces are marked by Schumann's characteristic sudden mood changes and are inflected with Romantic ideals of the artist's unrestricted creativity.