Starter Packs

Complete your collection with these curated titles, grouped at a special discount.

Shop Now
Schumann: Gesange Der Fruhe; 7 Fughetten; Kreisleriana / Dina Ugorskaja
CAvi-music

Schumann: Gesange Der Fruhe; 7 Fughetten; Kreisleriana / Dina Ugorskaja

$19.99 Only 1 left

Details

Composer
SCHUMANN, ROBERT
Artist
Dina Ugorskaja
Format
CD
Label
CAvi-music
Released
Oct 25, 2010
Catalog #
AVI 8553217
UPC
4260085532179

About



SCHUMANN Gesäng der Frühe. 7 Fughetten. Kreisleriana. Geistervariationen • Dina Ugorskaja (pn) • AVI MUSIC 8553217 (77:25)


The piercing and almost hypnotic eyes of pianist Dina Ugorskaja on the back cover of the booklet betray a perception and intelligence that serves her very well in this recording of three of Schumann’s late, tough pieces, and yet she has the flash and poetic power to give us an equally penetrating reading of Kreisleriana.


This last work, based on Hoffmann’s novel Views on Life by Murr, the Cat, along with a Fragmentary Biography of Kapellmeister Johannes Kreisler, Jotted Down on Wastepaper Found by Chance (got to love those long titles), has the hero actually going mad at the end. Schumann found himself enthralled by the possibilities inherent in the rational/irrational aspects of the story, and the music certainly reflects this maddening dichotomy, replete with a variety of forms and a connecting inconsistency that somehow, in the end, makes sense after all. I have been big on Horowitz and (recently) Clara Würtz in this music, but Ugorskaja makes quite a play for my affections here, and definitely moves easily into a very competitive field.


The other works on this disc are very late and from Schumann’s last years when he was trying to forge a different sort of music and even tonality. The Songs from Early Morning is an attempt to forge something out of the aesthetics of Hölderlin’s writings, which had taken a turn towards looking back at earlier models. Schumann did the same, perhaps even an early shot at neoclassicism for the time, using sparse harmonies and very vague tonal references. It’s haunting and beautiful all at once, and definitely a look into the future, something that so intimidated Clara that she never once performed it in public.


The composer fought the idea of fugues for many years, ultimately giving in to them in 1849. But his Seven Piano Pieces in Fughetta Form from just a few days before his Rhenish suicide attempt explores the structure to a remarkable degree, looking back to Bach with a quote from the “Royal” theme in the Musical Offering and presenting us with really unique harmonic constructs and odd voice-leading. It is one of the great mysteries of music to wonder about the path he might have taken had he made it into his 50s.


We don’t really know what caused Schumann’s final breakdown and illness. Could it have been a slow awareness of the relationship that Brahms had forged with his wife, platonic or otherwise? Or maybe the idea of failure in Düsseldorf haunted him—hard to say. But the chaos, real or imaginary, in his head was killing him quickly. At one point in February of 1854 he suddenly got out of bed and wrote down a theme that he said had been dictated by angels to him. The theme of these five variations (which he wrote down in the following days) had been used before in his Violin Concerto. But after he had finished with these “ghosts” he tossed his wedding ring into the Rhine and followed soon after. Clara nixed both publication and performance of this piece, and the first edition is from 1939, though Brahms made a set of four-hand variations (op. 23) on the theme.


Ugorskaja makes a great case for these late works as being every bit as important as Schumann’s earlier piano music. She brings a heightened sensitivity to all her playing coupled with an extraordinary facile ability to convey the complexities of this music in an easily assimilated way. Great piano sound, too, and I can recommend this as one of the top choices for these late works, nicely gathered in one place, with the additional spice of a fully competitive Kreisleriana as well.


FANFARE: Steven E. Ritter

Tracklist 26 tracks

  1. 1 No. 1. Im ruhigen Tempo 03:03
    Track
    1
    Title
    No. 1. Im ruhigen Tempo
    Duration
    03:03
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Dina Ugorskaja
  2. 2 No. 2. Belebt, nicht zu rasch 02:03
    Track
    2
    Title
    No. 2. Belebt, nicht zu rasch
    Duration
    02:03
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Dina Ugorskaja
  3. 3 No. 3. Lebhaft 02:29
    Track
    3
    Title
    No. 3. Lebhaft
    Duration
    02:29
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Dina Ugorskaja
  4. 4 No. 4. Bewegt 02:54
    Track
    4
    Title
    No. 4. Bewegt
    Duration
    02:54
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Dina Ugorskaja
  5. 5 No. 5. Im Anfange ruhiges, im Verlauf bewegteres Tempo 03:52
    Track
    5
    Title
    No. 5. Im Anfange ruhiges, im Verlauf bewegteres Tempo
    Duration
    03:52
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Dina Ugorskaja
  6. 6 No. 1. Nicht schnell, leise vorzutragen 02:17
    Track
    6
    Title
    No. 1. Nicht schnell, leise vorzutragen
    Duration
    02:17
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Dina Ugorskaja
  7. 7 No. 2. Massig 01:56
    Track
    7
    Title
    No. 2. Massig
    Duration
    01:56
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Dina Ugorskaja
  8. 8 No. 3. Ziemlich bewegt 02:03
    Track
    8
    Title
    No. 3. Ziemlich bewegt
    Duration
    02:03
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Dina Ugorskaja
  9. 9 No. 4. Lebhaft 01:59
    Track
    9
    Title
    No. 4. Lebhaft
    Duration
    01:59
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Dina Ugorskaja
  10. 10 No. 5. Ziemlich langsam, empfindungsvoll vorzutragen 03:35
    Track
    10
    Title
    No. 5. Ziemlich langsam, empfindungsvoll vorzutragen
    Duration
    03:35
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Dina Ugorskaja
  11. 11 No. 6. Sehr schnell 01:14
    Track
    11
    Title
    No. 6. Sehr schnell
    Duration
    01:14
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Dina Ugorskaja
  12. 12 No. 7. Langsam, ausdrucksvoll 03:29
    Track
    12
    Title
    No. 7. Langsam, ausdrucksvoll
    Duration
    03:29
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Dina Ugorskaja
  13. 13 I. Ausserst bewegt 02:29
    Track
    13
    Title
    I. Ausserst bewegt
    Duration
    02:29
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Dina Ugorskaja
  14. 14 II. Sehr innig und nicht zu rasch 10:02
    Track
    14
    Title
    II. Sehr innig und nicht zu rasch
    Duration
    10:02
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Dina Ugorskaja
  15. 15 III. Sehr aufgeregt 04:01
    Track
    15
    Title
    III. Sehr aufgeregt
    Duration
    04:01
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Dina Ugorskaja
  16. 16 IV. Sehr langsam 03:51
    Track
    16
    Title
    IV. Sehr langsam
    Duration
    03:51
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Dina Ugorskaja
  17. 17 V. Sehr lebhaft 03:04
    Track
    17
    Title
    V. Sehr lebhaft
    Duration
    03:04
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Dina Ugorskaja
  18. 18 VI. Sehr langsam 04:05
    Track
    18
    Title
    VI. Sehr langsam
    Duration
    04:05
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Dina Ugorskaja
  19. 19 VII. Sehr rasch 02:14
    Track
    19
    Title
    VII. Sehr rasch
    Duration
    02:14
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Dina Ugorskaja
  20. 20 VIII. Schnell und spielend 03:46
    Track
    20
    Title
    VIII. Schnell und spielend
    Duration
    03:46
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Dina Ugorskaja
  21. 21 Theme: Leise, innig 02:05
    Track
    21
    Title
    Theme: Leise, innig
    Duration
    02:05
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Dina Ugorskaja
  22. 22 Variation 1 01:36
    Track
    22
    Title
    Variation 1
    Duration
    01:36
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Dina Ugorskaja
  23. 23 Variation 2: Kanonisch 02:00
    Track
    23
    Title
    Variation 2: Kanonisch
    Duration
    02:00
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Dina Ugorskaja
  24. 24 Variation 3: Etwas belebter 01:37
    Track
    24
    Title
    Variation 3: Etwas belebter
    Duration
    01:37
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Dina Ugorskaja
  25. 25 Variation 4 02:19
    Track
    25
    Title
    Variation 4
    Duration
    02:19
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Dina Ugorskaja
  26. 26 Variation 5 03:10
    Track
    26
    Title
    Variation 5
    Duration
    03:10
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Dina Ugorskaja