Concert Stream Vivien Walser, 22.04.2021, 18:00 - Solo Piano Recital
Program:
- Robert Schumann, Kreisleriana, Op. 16
- J.S. Bach, Partita No. 1, BWV 825
- Franz Liszt, Après une lecture du Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata
Production from April 17, 2021, first release
Brief background to the pieces.
1 Robert Schumann, Kreisleriana, Op. 16
The Kreisleriana (op. 16) is a piano cycle composed by Robert Schumann in 1838, which is considered a key work of Romantic piano literature. Schumann chose the name "Kreisleriana" in reference to the figure of Kapellmeister Kreisler created by E. T. A. Hoffmann. Schumann saw this as the epitome of Romantic artistry and considered the cycle "Kreisleriana" to be the best of his piano compositions. Kreisler's story contains Schumann's self-portrait, which he worked into eight fantasy pieces. "They will give you a picture of my character, my aspirations". With the cycle "Kreisleriana", however, he not only depicts his own personality, but also shows a picture of his future wife Clara: "Kreisleriana I will call it, in which you and a thought of yours play the leading role". The heated arguments between Schumann and Clara's father, Friedrich Wieck, led to Clara requesting that the dedication to her be changed. The dedication was thus made to Frédéric Chopin. The work, which lasts around half an hour, consists of eight individual pieces of a strongly contrasting character, which are, however, related to each other through a tonal relationship. Six of the eight pieces are in G minor or B flat major, the remaining two in keys related to the fifth. [Movements 1. very agitated, D minor 2. very intimate and not too fast, B flat major 3. very excited, G minor 4. very slow, B flat major - D minor 5. very lively, G minor 6. very slow, B flat major 7. very fast, C minor - E flat major 8. fast and playful, G minor
2. Johann Sebastian Bach, Partita I, B flat major, BWV 825
For many musicians, he is the "beginning and end of all music" (Max Reger). With the exception of opera, Bach composed masterpieces for every instrumentation and genre of his time. From 1726 to 1731, Bach published a partita for harpsichord - in other words, a suite. In 1731, he compiled the six compositions once again and published them. Each of Bach's six partitas has seven magnificent individual movements and basically follows the sequence of movements initiated in French Baroque music (allemande - courante - sarabande - gigue), but usually adds additional dances before the gigue or sarabande, or replaces them with other dances. These partitas can justifiably be described as Bach's "non-plus-ultra" suite cycle. In terms of artistic and manual demands, it clearly surpasses its equally frequently performed "English" (HN 100) and "French" (HN 71) siblings. It is therefore no coincidence that Bach only had these six partitas published in print (1731) as an exception, and as "Opus 1" at that. [Source: Henle Verlag and Wikipedia, adapted] Movements I. Praeludium II. allemande III. corrente IV. Sarabande V. Menuet I & II VI. Gigue
3. Franz Liszt, Apres une Lecture de Dante Fantasia quasi Sonata
Often referred to by pianists as the "Dante Sonata", it is the final piece from the 2nd volume of the "Années de Pèlerinage". In 1839, under the influence of Dante's "Divine Comedy", Liszt began work on a "fragment dantesque". The one-movement sonata is based on the "Inferno" section of Dante's poem. It describes the soul's wild ride through various realms of hell with great effect and detail, and finally ends with a few conciliatory chords in a kind of transfiguration - one of the outstanding examples of Liszt's technical sophistication and tonal culture. The physical sensation of the limits of what can be played is an essential part of the piece's effect, and one can literally see the pianist raging six-handed at the piano. [Source: Henle Verlag, adapted]