ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810–1856): Kreisleriana op. 16
In April 1838, in a creative frenzy that apparently lasted only four days, Schumann's half-hour cycle of "Fantasy Pieces for the Pianoforte" was created - in May an eighth was added. The title is identical to a collection of seemingly unrelated sketches, Kreislerian – plural of Kreislerianum –, from the estate of the fictitious Kapellmeister Johannes Kreisler, which E. T. A. Hoffmann in 1814 as part of Fantasiestücke in Callot's Manier had it printed. Schumann was also able to identify with this figure, the poet's alter ego, so to speak. It fits all too well with his own art characters »Eusebius« and »Florestan«, which represent the – at least – two souls in his chest, and would be predestined for membership in the likewise imaginary »Davidsbundlern«who opposed the Philistines - the real philistinism - fight and in compositions like that Davidsbündlertanzen op. 6 or Carnival op. 9 be specifically addressed. Well are Schumanns Kreislerian certainly not conceived as a portrait of the eccentric musician from the stories of Hoffmann. Despite the composer's intensive preoccupation with it, there is no evidence of his Hoffmann / KreislerReception, so that possible substantive parallels would be speculation. But from a purely structural point of view, astonishing analogies can be drawn between the Hoffmanns and the Schumanns, both on the surface (»phenotext«) and in depth Kreislerian determined. After unsuccessfully attempting to ask Clara Wieck’s father for his daughter’s hand in marriage – the couple ultimately had to sue for permission to marry – Schumann, in order to avoid further trouble, changed the dedication of the work at Clara’s request to Frédéric Chopin, who wrote it but apparently ignored. Sigismund Thalberg played the private premiere.
»Your life and mine and some of your looks« lie in the Kreislerian, writes Robert to his future wife. The principle of contrast - from the extreme to the intimate - between the individual movements reflects the emotionally charged struggle for Clara - on the other hand, largely formal uniformity and intratextual references, especially in the rhythmic, ensure the inner cohesion of the cycle. Six of the eight pieces are in simple ABA form, and six of eight are in the relative keys of G minor and B flat major. Intertextually - just as an example - the beginning of the 4th Kreislerianum appears as a continuation of the poet speaks from the Children's senses. The listener experiences a paragon of musical poetry, a romantic one »soul language«, which does not require a specific program.
FRANZ LISZT (1811-1886): Grandes études de Paganini
The young Liszt was already a celebrated pianist when he first met Niccolò Paganini at the age of 19. That was incentive enough to completely rethink his piano technique and culminated in exercises of unprecedented difficulty and completely new playing techniques on the piano. This is how the first approaches to the Paganini Etudes can be found as early as 1832. Since Liszt often subjected his works to years of testing on the concert stage before publishing them, it was not until 1838 that his 6 Paganini Studies - Dedicated to Clara Schumann. This first version is still riddled with harassment that sometimes went beyond the mark, which at that time probably only Liszt himself could effortlessly master in adequate tempi and which have become partly obsolete due to the constant further development of the concert grand piano - especially its sonority.
The 2nd version from 1851, which is also presented here, is impressive as Great Studies of Paganini through a self-confident economy of the piano writing, which nevertheless achieves a tonally equivalent effect. The material used comes from Paganini, while largely retaining the original forms 24 Capricci op. 1 – except for number 3: the campanella, where as a template the finale from his Violin Concerto No. 2 B minor serves. No. 1 [after op. 1, no. 5 & 6] is a scale or tremolo study, no. 2 [op. 1, No. 17] trains octaves in the middle part, No. 3 repetitions and jumps. No. 4 [op. 1, no. 1] – the second of the two 1838 versions with absurdly difficult cascades of chords – becomes in 1851 a simple transcription of Paganini's spring bow technique, cleverly divided between two hands. No. 5 [op. 1, No. 9] is more of a sound study (imitation of flute or horn). Finally, the large-scale final etude with variations deals with what is probably one of the most edited pieces in music history: Paganini's Caprice in A minor [No. 24] has inspired dozens of composers to write extensive works (Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Blacher, Lutosławski, Hamelin...).
JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833–1897): 16 waltzes op. 39
Pieces more for private use, on the other hand, are the 16 waltzes op. 39, which Brahms dedicated to Eduard Hanslick in 1866. Most of the lovely pieces were written a year earlier, but some probably even earlier. In addition to the original four-hand version, Brahms himself made a two-hand version and even a simplified version in 1867. The work appears as something in between a collection and a cycle: »Pieces which, like Schubert's waltz sequence, are loosely joined together and yet put together with a firm feeling for the sequence« (Hans Gal). Schubert's two-part waltz type as a starting point is formally even more strictly committed to a fixed "metrical case" than the Viennese waltz of the 1860s. However, Brahms is able to reconcile this excellently with the harmonic and rhythmic features that are characteristic of him. Already in the second part of the first waltz (B major) the triple rhythm is staggered by the hemiolitic accompaniment with a circular eighth note movement, and the four final bars of No. 4 (E minor) with their chromaticism could not be more typical of Brahms . No. 6 (C sharp major) even conveys a virtuoso impression, and Hungarian elements (Nos. 11, 13 & 14) should of course not be missing either. Great success was inevitable.
Martin Blaumeiser
program:
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Kreisleriana, Op. 16
[01] No. 1 Extremely moved, D minor03:04
[02] No. 2 Very intimate and not too fast, B flat major 08:48
[03] No. 3 Very excited, G minor 05:14
[04] No. 4 Very Slow, B flat major / G minor03:51
[05] No. 5 Very lively, G minor03:22
[06] No. 6 Very Slow, B flat major 03:46
[07] No. 7 Very Rapidly, C minor / E flat major 02:30
[08] No. 8 Fast and Playful, G minor 03:01
Olga Chelova Piano
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Great Studies of Paganini
[09] 1. Preludio non troppo lento, G minor 05:46
[10] 2. Andante capriccioso, E flat major 05:32
[11] 3. La Campanella: Allegretto, G sharp minor 05:12
[12] 4. Vivo, E major 02:09
[13] 5. La Chasse: Allegretto, E major 03:04
[14] 6. Theme with variations: Quasi presto, A minor 05:30
Olga Chelova Piano
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
16 Waltzes, Op. 39 for piano four hands
[15] No. 1 in B major, tempo giusto 00:45
[16] No. 2 in E major 01:14
[17] No. 3 in G sharp minor 00:49
[18] No. 4 in E minor, Poco sostenuto 01:16
[19] No. 5 in E major, Grazioso 01:12
[20] No. 6 in C sharp major, Vivace 01:02
[21] No. 7 in C sharp minor, Poco più andante 02:03
[22] No. 8 in B flat major 01:26
[23] No. 9 in D minor 01:11
[24] No. 10 in G major 00:33
[25] No. 11 in B minor 01:19
[26] No. 12 in E major 01:22
[27] No. 13 in C major 00:36
[28] No. 14 in A minor 01:17
[29] No. 15 in A major 01:22
[30] No. 16 in D minor 00:56
Olga Chelova & Philippe Entremont Piano
Total playing time: 79:40
In memory of my grandmother, Esfir Abrahmovne Chelovoi
Pamyati moeiy babushki, Esfir Abrahmovne Chelovoi
Olga Chelova
Press:
The art of sound
April 2022 Olga Chelova's debut CD captivates primarily through the recording of Robert Schumann's Kreislerian op. 16. The pianist, born in Odessa in 1987, plays these »Fantasias« dedicated to Frédéric Chopin, which were inspired by ETA Hoffmann's literary figure of the ingenious conductor Johannes Kreisler, who suffers from the dichotomy between »art« and »world« in such a way that one listens. The title already used by Hoffmann himself Kreislerian is a Latin plural made-up word that can be translated as »Kreisler plays«, »Kreisler stories« or – corresponding to the subtitle of the work mentioned – as »Kreisler fantasies«. Together with the one composed almost at the same time humoresque op. 20 count the Kreislerian one of Schumann's deepest, even most abysmal piano works, composed in 1838/39 towards the end of his first major creative phase. What makes you sit up and take notice of Chelova's rendition of the eight movements, which are not thematically related, but are cyclically related to one another through dramaturgically stringent character contrasts and key networking that is rich in relationships? Well, the artist, who trained in her Ukrainian hometown in Hanover (according to the booklet “at the cadre school of the international piano elite”), in Salzburg and Paris, does not make the mistake of many pianists: they split them Kreislerian into expressively overheated and hedonistic overstretched episodes, whereby when playing live after such a roller coaster ride of emotions in the final movement (»Quickly and playfully«) they easily lose their concentration. When trying to empathize with what Schumann 'meant' in a highly individual way (which, according to a common paradigm, supposedly shouldn't be 'in the notes' so much as 'between the lines'), they tend to fall into certain manners which, paradoxically, often don't exist at all particularly individual, but rather template-like. Nowadays, a Johannes Kreisler would probably alternate between sarcastic laughter and depression. A perfect example of such Kreislerian- The opening phrase of the second piece (»Very intimate and not too quick«) offers mannerisms, in which eight (2 + 2) eighth notes strive towards the target point of a half note. The musical unity of meaning is immediately repeated and decisively shapes the course of the movement, which includes two thematically and expressively independent intermezzi. Years ago, at the international Robert Schumann Competition in Zwickau, the reviewer heard the Kreislerian and thus also this sentence more than half a dozen times. And almost always the players were so emotionally affected by that halfway point that they widened it far beyond its two quarter beats - as if the composer hadn't already differentiated clearly enough between short and long. Olga Chelova does not fall for such clichés of thinking and playing. She is able – not only in this detail – to correlate what is written on and between the staves in a sensitive and intelligent way. The 2nd movement sounds intimate and reflected, cantabile legato lines, staccato dancing semiquavers, independent bass lines result in a multifaceted tonal structure that speaks in the Hoffmannian sense, comments on itself, even questions it and ultimately results in a higher dialectical whole: a tone -Poetry. Chelova can think and create beyond the effective moment in developments, in structures - perhaps also because she is a pianist and composer. In this sense, her recording stands out Kreislerian-Mainstream out. Occasionally one could imagine even clearer distinctions between forte, piano and pianissimo (e.g. in the 1st piece) and one regrets that in No. 2 and No. 8 individual repeated parts are omitted. Overall, however, Chelova's technically superior playing convinces with the convincing balance of foresight and attention to detail, a warm heart and a cool head. And so her recording entices you to listen to it again and again. Franz Liszt Great Studies of Paganini the revised version of 1851 also benefits from Chelova's pianistic qualities. At the beginning of the first piece, the cantabile legato of the upper voices and the accompanying tremolo succeed flawlessly. Accelerations are musically well-timed here and in the other pieces. Seemingly effortlessly, Liszt's highest demands on octave technique, fingering security and suppleness of passages are mastered energetically, powerfully and spiritedly (only at the beginning of the 1rd Etude La campanella you can briefly feel what Liszt demands of the right hand). Despite its assertiveness, the piano sound appears flexible and slender, the use of the pedals always serves to shape, never to conceal. Nevertheless, the recording does not appear as complex and mature as that of the Kreislerian, although Chelova plays Liszt's Paganini Etudes more perfectly, pedal-disciplined, and circumspectly than is often heard on older recordings. But their (good) recording stays within the range of what is usual and what is to be expected. One notices what there is to discover in the pieces, for example, when comparing them with the recording by the pianist Shin-Heae Kang, who was the same age and who also received her artistic training from Karl-Heinz Kämmerling in Hanover (Liszt CD Kaleidoscope, Ohms Classics, 2019). Born in Kiel, she understands Liszt more lyrically, sometimes relies on somewhat more reserved tempi and dynamic values, but offers a pianistically perfect interpretation of La campanella and a recording of Hunting (No. 5), which in the first middle section is more differentiated in terms of sound and articulation, and in the second more capricious than in Chelova. Above all, however, one experiences Liszt's Paganini Etudes with Kang not only as a pinnacle of pianistic virtuosity, but as 'poetic' music. The last 16 tracks of the CD should best be heard as an unofficial ›après‹: Olga Chelova makes music together with Philippe Entremont, who was 86 at the time of recording. From him, who was considered one of the leading French pianists from the 1950s, Chelova received »important musical impulses« during her Paris studies, as the booklet explains. The joy of both playing together – with Entremont presumably taking over the primo role – is just as unmistakable as the rather house music quality of the sometimes quite nonchalant playing together. So, as stated at the beginning, Olga Chelova's rendition of Schumann's Kreislerina remains the highlight and main benefit of this technically flawless production. Michael Struck |
