Terra Nova research collective 　　Terra Nova is a musical research collective based in Antwerp. The ensemble seeks out interesting unknown or forgotten music and breathes new life into it on the concert platform. These works are presented in the concert programme alongside more familiar works of the western musical repertoire. At a Terra Nova concert the audience has the chance to hear a unique musical discovery as well as a familiar masterpiece. 　　 　　The Romances, Opus 94, date from 849, one of Schumann’s most productive periods. Schumann composed the Romances as a Christmas present for Clara, Schumann’s wife. Initially they were performed only in the Schumann home, and it was only on 4 January 86 that they were first publicly performed in the Gewandhaus in Leipzig. 　　Originally the Romances were scored for oboe and piano and Schumann was quite opposed to the publication of an alternative version for clarinet. Indeed when Schumann’s publisher, Nikolaus Simrock, wrote to the composer con- firming the receipt of the work, he also asked if Schumann would agree to the publication of an alternative title page with the words “for clarinet and piano” as well as the title page proposed by Schumann bearing the words “for oboe and piano”. Schumann promptly replied, “Should I have originally intended the work to be for clarinet and piano it would have been an altogether different piece ... I therefore regret to inform you that I cannot agree to your proposal”. Even so the publisher went ahead and published a version for clarinet as well as one for violin. 　　When in 878 Schumann’s entire oeuvre was published by Breitkopf & Härtel under the supervision of Clara Schumann only the alternative version for vio- 　　lin was mentioned. Probably this had to do with the fact that Clara herself performed the piece in Leipzig with a violinist taking the oboe part. 　　Historically speaking alternative versions and performances are common and to be expected. After all publishers can hardly be blamed for wanting to sell as many scores as possible. Musicians too are keen to perform the best pieces even though these may not have been written with their instrument in mind. 　　Terra Nova now has the pleasure of making two alternative versions on a sin- gle album available for the first time ever. One is the Simrock version referred to above and the other is rather special, as it is a version for viola inspired by the alternative version of the clarinet sonatas on viola by Schumann’s protégé Johannes Brahms. 　　We hope you enjoy listening to and comparing these two different musical versions. 　　vlad Weverbergh