Description
With INNIG, Canadian pianist Meagan Milatz offers an immersion into the deeply introspective world of German Romanticism, centred around one of Robert Schumann's most fascinating works: Kreisleriana, Op. 16. Recorded on an 1835 Conrad Graf fortepiano, very similar to the instrument owned by Clara and Robert Schumann in the late 1830s, the album brings together works composed between 1835 and 1839 by Robert Schumann, Clara Wieck, and Frederic Chopin. At the heart of the programme, Meagan Milatz performs the original 1838 version of Kreisleriana. Inspired by the eccentric character Johannes Kreisler, created by E. T. A. Hoffmann, the cycle moves between agitation, mystery, sudden bursts of intensity, and moments of profound introspection. This inner dimension gives the album its title, INNIG, a German word that defies direct translation but evokes an expression that is intimate, heartfelt, and deeply inward-looking. Around Kreisleriana, Milatz creates a carefully conceived musical journey. Der Dichter spricht, from Kinderszenen, reveals a motif subtly woven into Kreisleriana itself. Four Preludes by Chopin, the cycle's official dedicatee, echo its shifting emotional landscapes, while selections from Clara Wieck's Soirees musicales highlight the virtuosity and expressive sensitivity of a musician who held a central place in Schumann's life and imagination. Blumenstuck then offers a simpler, more luminous contrast before the album closes in the dreamlike atmosphere of Traumerei. Meagan Milatz brings her expressive approach to the distinctive colours of the historical fortepiano. Built in Vienna by Conrad Graf in 1835 and restored by Chris Maene, the instrument offers a warm, resonant, and poetic sound that casts this repertoire in a fresh light.
