Carnaval

R. Schumann

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Cat No: ODRCD342

Release Date: 31 March 2017

Label: Odradek Records

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 0855317003424

Genres: Classical

Description
The great carnival that is life is peopled with an array of colourful characters, jostling for our attention. Nobody appreciated this more than Schumann, who regularly created or called upon a host of personalities with whom to populate his music. Yet this sociable outlook was offset by Schumann's own mental fragility, through which he understood the subtler, smaller-scale implications of life's carnival: that within each of us we may experience the tussle between contrasting, even conflicting calls upon our attention; that our own individual characters may be divided into different versions, different variations, of ourselves.

The works presented here are powerful, provocative, and inventive; and they have also grown with me over the years. Both Carnaval, Op. 9 and Fasschingschwank aus Wien, Op. 26 are a trip into the wildest and most exciting regions of Schumann's psyche. My idea when interpreting these pieces was to offer a new, theatrical and exciting approach, in which the kaleidoscope of characters and emotions that permeate both pieces merge together into a magical carnival jest where everyone is invited to take part. Being in the privileged position of the performer allows me to invite the audience to the party Schumann had in mind, and it is my pleasure as a "tour-guide" to show you its magic, and to attempt to draw you in from the first note –not releasing you until the clock strikes twelve.

Rather than taking a purely analytical or even obsessive pathway into these works, I have gone deep into my own character and my Mediterranean roots to emphasise their emotive and colourful aspects. The Geistervariationen, however, depict an ethereal, ghostly carnival within, probing different facets of a single character. This set of variations is, perhaps, the most beautiful music Schumann ever wrote for the piano. Its heavenly phrasing and simple harmonic language allow me and the listener to enjoy music in its purest form.

Presenting both Carnavals alongside the introspective Geistervariationen allows me to demonstrate to the audience the real emotional dichotomy that not only Schumann, but, perhaps, every human being, has experienced. With their strong appeal to both the inner emotions and to logic, these contrasting works of art have a particular appeal for me, as though in them Schumann has distilled the very essence of life itself.
Tracklisting