Starter Packs

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

Shop Now
Alpha

Schumann: Kreisleriana & Ghost Variations; Widmann: 11 Humoresken / Pilsan

$20.99

Details

Composer
Robert Schumann, Jorg Widmann
Artist
Aaron Pilsan
Format
CD
Label
Alpha
Released
May 26, 2023
Catalog #
ALPHA896
UPC
3760014198960

About

Schumann composed Kreisleriana in April 1838, at the age of 27, exactly the same age as Aaron Pilsan today : “The youthful thing that I can identify with in Kreisleriana is its spontaneity. If I had to describe the piece, I would use the German word for crazy, ‘verrückt’, which doesn’t just mean crazy, but also to be disconnected from reality. So, crazy, imaginative and intimate… There is a huge connection between these two German composers, as Jörg Widmann was inspired by Schumann’s music a lot and even his musical language is very similar, even though their styles are obviously very different. The starting point for Widmann’s music is from feelings, from the emotions and sentiments and that is where there is a similarity, but not only there. He even quotes Robert Schumann in his tenth Humoreske, taking a bar directly from Schumann’s Geistervariationen."

REVIEW:

Pilsan expresses the inner turmoil of the Kreisleriana with a keen sense of the enigmatism that is one of the secrets of Schumann’s art. He also finds the right approach in the Geistervariationen, interiorized, cantabile and supple. The melodic tenderness is never obscured by melancholy. It is in such a clear and restrained interpretation that the loss becomes clear, for this is, after all, Schumann’s last work before he was committed to a mental hospital.

Between the two Schumann works Aaron Pilsan has inserted Jörg Widmann’s Elf Humoresken, whose title refers to Robert Schumann. He succeeds very well in showing what the composer wanted: "May the interpreter discover in each of the pieces its very own tone and make it sound, sometimes mocking, then again dry, here melancholically clouded, but always with humor and subtlety."

-- Pizzicato

[Pilsan’s] artistry has evolved considerably. You have to turn to the most esteemed recordings of Kreisleriana, by Horowitz, Pollini, and Argerich, for example, to outstrip Pilsan’s performance. He seeks more balance and moderation at times than those pianists...he’s clearly to the manner born.

Reading the informative liner notes to this new release, which also includes a brief interview with Widmann conducted by Pilsan, you pick up some obvious reference points. Schumann wrote his own set of humoresques, and he freely used the expression marking mit Humor or mit guten Humor, which a postmodern composer like Widmann doesn’t take to be as simple as it looks. He takes full advantage of an emotional spectrum extended even farther than Schumann’s.

The mood is often freely tonal and Romantic, easily accessible if you appreciate contemporary eclecticism and Widmann in particular, as I very much do. Fragmentary references to Schumann abound, and in the final piece a bar of music from Schumann’s last work, the “Ghost” Variations, is directly quoted, serving as a link to Pilsan’s performance of the whole piece. The other major work on the program, Kreisleriana, was based on the fantastical Kapellmeister Johannes Kreisler created by E. T. A. Hoffman. The fact that Schumann borrows the title of one of the three Kreisler novels (the last of which is narrated by his cat) implies that the music describes Kreisler’s peculiar temperament as much as Schumann’s – in the medieval sense, temperament is rooted in the four humors.

I haven’t heard other recordings of the Widmann, but Pilsan’s account seems nearly ideal in the way he merges Schumann into the contemporary texture of the music.

-- Fanfare

Tracklist 25 tracks

  1. 1 I. Äußerst bewegt 02:55
    Track
    1
    Title
    I. Äußerst bewegt
    Duration
    02:55
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Aaron Pilsan
  2. 2 II. Sehr innig und nicht zu rasch 09:21
    Track
    2
    Title
    II. Sehr innig und nicht zu rasch
    Duration
    09:21
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Aaron Pilsan
  3. 3 III. Sehr aufgeregt 04:36
    Track
    3
    Title
    III. Sehr aufgeregt
    Duration
    04:36
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Aaron Pilsan
  4. 4 IV. Sehr langsam 03:28
    Track
    4
    Title
    IV. Sehr langsam
    Duration
    03:28
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Aaron Pilsan
  5. 5 V. Sehr lebhaft 03:02
    Track
    5
    Title
    V. Sehr lebhaft
    Duration
    03:02
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Aaron Pilsan
  6. 6 VI. Sehr langsam 04:18
    Track
    6
    Title
    VI. Sehr langsam
    Duration
    04:18
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Aaron Pilsan
  7. 7 VII. Sehr rasch 02:00
    Track
    7
    Title
    VII. Sehr rasch
    Duration
    02:00
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Aaron Pilsan
  8. 8 VIII. Schnell und spielend 03:44
    Track
    8
    Title
    VIII. Schnell und spielend
    Duration
    03:44
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Aaron Pilsan
  9. 9 I. Kinderlied 03:34
    Track
    9
    Title
    I. Kinderlied
    Duration
    03:34
    Composer
    Jörg Widmann
    Performer
    Aaron Pilsan
  10. 10 II. Fast zu ernst 00:54
    Track
    10
    Title
    II. Fast zu ernst
    Duration
    00:54
    Composer
    Jörg Widmann
    Performer
    Aaron Pilsan
  11. 11 III. Anfangs lebhaft 03:04
    Track
    11
    Title
    III. Anfangs lebhaft
    Duration
    03:04
    Composer
    Jörg Widmann
    Performer
    Aaron Pilsan
  12. 12 IV. Waldszene 01:03
    Track
    12
    Title
    IV. Waldszene
    Duration
    01:03
    Composer
    Jörg Widmann
    Performer
    Aaron Pilsan
  13. 13 V. Choral 02:54
    Track
    13
    Title
    V. Choral
    Duration
    02:54
    Composer
    Jörg Widmann
    Performer
    Aaron Pilsan
  14. 14 VI. Warum? 01:25
    Track
    14
    Title
    VI. Warum?
    Duration
    01:25
    Composer
    Jörg Widmann
    Performer
    Aaron Pilsan
  15. 15 VII. Intermezzo 01:05
    Track
    15
    Title
    VII. Intermezzo
    Duration
    01:05
    Composer
    Jörg Widmann
    Performer
    Aaron Pilsan
  16. 16 VIII. Zerrinnendes Bild 02:06
    Track
    16
    Title
    VIII. Zerrinnendes Bild
    Duration
    02:06
    Composer
    Jörg Widmann
    Performer
    Aaron Pilsan
  17. 17 IX. Glocken 01:09
    Track
    17
    Title
    IX. Glocken
    Duration
    01:09
    Composer
    Jörg Widmann
    Performer
    Aaron Pilsan
  18. 18 X. Lied im Traume 00:50
    Track
    18
    Title
    X. Lied im Traume
    Duration
    00:50
    Composer
    Jörg Widmann
    Performer
    Aaron Pilsan
  19. 19 XI. Mit Humor und Feinsinn 05:39
    Track
    19
    Title
    XI. Mit Humor und Feinsinn
    Duration
    05:39
    Composer
    Jörg Widmann
    Performer
    Aaron Pilsan
  20. 20 Theme: Leise, innig 01:44
    Track
    20
    Title
    Theme: Leise, innig
    Duration
    01:44
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Aaron Pilsan
  21. 21 Variation 1 01:27
    Track
    21
    Title
    Variation 1
    Duration
    01:27
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Aaron Pilsan
  22. 22 Variation 2: Canonisch 01:38
    Track
    22
    Title
    Variation 2: Canonisch
    Duration
    01:38
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Aaron Pilsan
  23. 23 Variation 3: Etwas belebter 01:45
    Track
    23
    Title
    Variation 3: Etwas belebter
    Duration
    01:45
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Aaron Pilsan
  24. 24 Variation 4 01:44
    Track
    24
    Title
    Variation 4
    Duration
    01:44
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Aaron Pilsan
  25. 25 Variation 5 03:05
    Track
    25
    Title
    Variation 5
    Duration
    03:05
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Aaron Pilsan