GGS 4th Year Recital: R. Schumann Kreisleriana Op. 16 (Colin Chang)

During the time when the lovers Robert Schumann and Clara Wieck were separated due to the violent disapproval of Clara's father, Robert wrote many love letters to her which are among the most moving of all love letters ever written. He also poured out his feelings into composition, writing with a feverish intensity works which reveal an endlessly fertile imagination on the part of the quintessentially romantic artist. Kreisleriana, a set of 8 piano pieces, was one of Schumann's favourite works for piano he wrote, and it is inspired by a character in E.T.A. Hoffman's stories who is a musician and has bouts of erratic behaviour, staying up all night writing a piece only to cast it into the flames by day. Kreisleriana explores the darker shades of human emotions, which transmute sometimes into moments of heavenly purity. The passion in some of these moments almost threatens to rip the air apart, whereas in other places, the music is tender, childlike, and so fragile that it could break at a single touch. Robert's mastery and originality as evident in these emotionally extreme pieces is just incredible. I am playing from the first edition, which is way better than the second edition which you commonly hear. It is more spontaneous, daring, and shows in a more transparent way the initial spark or impulse born from this painful period in Schumann's life, a period yet full of longing and hope, full of wonder, desire, and sincerity. Kreisleriana, Op. 16 (First Edition, 1838) 0:00 I. Äußerst bewegt 2:00 II. Sehr innig und nicht zu rasch 9:34 III. Sehr aufgeregt 14:16 IV. Sehr langsam 17:39 V. Sehr lebhaft 21:01 VI. Sehr langsam 25:09 VII. Sehr rasch 27:28 VIII. Schnell und spielend