Scherzo No.1, Op.10

Clara Schumann's first scherzo, composed around 1838 when she was in her late teens and already among the most celebrated pianists in Europe, and the piece by which she is best known as a composer. It is bold, propulsive music that gives away nothing to the conventions expected of a young woman's writing at the time. She had been performing publicly since the age of nine, and her sixty year concert career did more than anyone's to establish the modern recital, played from memory and built around serious repertoire rather than the performer's own showpieces.