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Schumann

Beethoven and more (by Ingrid Fliter)

Posted on March 3, 2012

In this review of the pianist Ingrid Fliter http://www.ingridfliter.com/kevin-moore-cny-cafe-momus the critic says, “Her playing is not focused on the studied perfection and polish that is so often the case with younger competition-winning pianists today. Rather it makes these pieces come alive with a natural and unforced quality that underscores the very real perfection of the playing. It simply grabs the listener the way great Beethoven pieces should.”

Earlier he says, This is truly great Beethoven playing. It brings to mind the old recordings of Solomon, Hungerford, Myra Hess or Clara Haskil.

Wow – High praise indeed. Funny thing is .. I think I can hear it! Time to go shopping for much more of Fliter’s Beethoven.

here’s her take on the second movement of Beethoven’s Pathetique sonata

How about some more Ingrid! Here’s Chopin’s Waltz #8 op. 64 no. 3 in A flat

And some Schumann: Symphonic Etudes op. 13 Anhang variation V

Female Composers Schumann Schumann, Clara Women!

Deathbed Request

Posted on May 16, 2010

Consider: What music would someone want to hear when they knew they were dying?

It’s especially fascinating to consider when that someone had devoted their entire life to music. She met and collaborated with some of the 19th Century’s greatest composers: Married and lived with one of those Great composers.

That was Clara Schumann – Robert’s wife – a musical heroine if there ever was one! (Google her to find out why she was such a Heroine, raising 8 children, touring Europe and taking care of her husband – it’s a great story)

She asked to hear this piece on her deathbed.

In March 1896, Clara Schumann suffered a stroke. Her friend Johannes Brahms canceled plans for an Italian vacation to wait for news of her improvement. On her deathbed, she asked her grandson Ferdinand to play her husband’s F-sharp major romance for her. That was the last music Clara Schumann heard. She died May 20, 1896. Brahms attended the funeral. He died eleven months later.

Robert Schumann: Romance in F# Op.28

Robert Schumann: Romance, Op.28 in F sharp

Schumann

Why is this so familiar?

Posted on May 16, 2010

I just googled for way too long .. trying to tie this piece into a movie theme, because it sounds SO familiar I assumed it must be a movie or TV theme. Couldn’t find anything. Perhaps someone took the main theme and ‘popularised’ it?

Schumann’s Marchenbilder op. 113 no. IV

If you can help send me an email jimji@internode.on.net

Marchenbilder (Fairy Tales), Op. 113 IV. Langsam, mit melancholischem Ausdruck

Is Schumann schmaltzy? Schumann

Is Schumann Schmaltzy?

Posted on December 18, 2007

Robert Schumann – not an easy life! Through extreme efforts to improve his piano playing he ruined one hand. He was denied marriage for years to the woman he loved. Attempted suicide. May have contracted syphilis. Probably fell into the bi-polar vortex later in life and was institutionalised.

And a final kick in the guts: He never received the recognition he deserved while alive.

My father, the Chopin freak, dismissed him as ‘schmaltzy’

[Schmaltz definition: Noun: (Yiddish) Excessive sentimentality in art or music]

Is this schmaltz? – or beauty and sweetness, from the birth of the Romantic era?

You decide.

From Kinderszenen op. 15 Traumeriei – A series written for children? on behalf of children? – or a childlike appreciation of life?! This one in the series is one of Schumann’s most played piano pieces.

Kinderszenen op. 15 Traumeriei

Piano Quartet in E flat 0p. 47 andante-catabile

Carnaval op. 9 – eusebius

Here’s another track from the Kenderszenen series: Von fremden landern und menschen (of foreign lands and people)