Schumann - Piano Concerto in A minor | Francesco Piemontesi | Lionel Bringuier | WDR Symphony Orchestra
Robert Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor, op. 54, performed by pianist Francesco Piemontesi and the WDR Symphony Orchestra conducted by Lionel Bringuier. Recorded live at the Kölner Philharmonie on May 27, 2023.
Robert Schumann - Piano Concerto in A minor op. 54
00:00:00 I. Allegro affettouso
00:15:40 II. Intermezzo. Andantino grazioso
00:21:05 III. allegro vivace
WDR Symphony Orchestra
Francesco Piemontesi, piano
Lionel Bringuier, conductor
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Work Introduction:
What a pop star is today was the equivalent of the traveling virtuoso in the 19th century. Think of the 'devil violinist' Paganini or the 'keyboard lion' Liszt. Aiming for a downright circus-like music-making was not Robert Schumann's thing, however. As an ideal, he envisioned an antithesis to the virtuoso concerts of his time: What attracted him to a concerto was not the grasping paw or furiously sparkling dexterity, but the perfect interlocking of the sounds of the protagonists involved, i.e. the solo instrument with the orchestra. A lofty goal: Schumann took four attempts to achieve it - and each time he abandoned the compositional attempt. So he himself also fell short of his idea, and he was even more unable to find it among his contemporaries.
This led him to a humble statement in 1839: "And so we must confidently wait for the genius who will show us in a new and brilliant way how the orchestra can be combined with the piano, so that the person who rules the piano can unfold the richness of his instrument and his art, while the orchestra can do more than just watch and weave the scene more artfully with its manifold characters.
At that time, Schumann did not yet dare to believe that a few years later he himself would be the genius who would create a higher art form through the interaction of the two equal sound partners. His four failed piano concerto attempts were still in his bones. Two years later, however, he made a new attempt, not with a traditional concerto, but with a fantasy for piano and orchestra. Clara found in it exactly the ideal he was striving for: "The piano is most finely interwoven with the orchestra - one cannot imagine the one without the other." However, Schumann was initially unable to initiate a public performance. And a publisher could not be found either. In 1845, he decided to thoroughly rework the Fantasy and add two movements to it - and thus achieved his final breakthrough.
(Text: Otto Hagedorn)
10 июл 2024
