To embark on a complete cycle of the solo piano works of Robert Schumann is already a crazy adventure. To record that cycle live in the course of fifteen concerts is like scaling a massive cliff surmounted by endless traps that need to be avoided, but also a long inner journey. Like a painter who experiences the urge to spread out before herself, canvas after canvas, a work that becomes her œuvre, Dana Ciocarlie feels a powerful need to construct something in the long term – whereas her usual role stops short at the end of a single concert. Her means of expression is performance, and her universe is that of Schumann. She feels at home in Schumann’s musical world, steeped as it is in passion, torment, literary allusions, humour and spontaneous élan. His music is not ‘constructed’ in the way the term is traditionally understood. Its dominant element is spontaneity: instantaneous switches from one mood to another, structural imperfections caused by the rush of inspiration. It’s as if he must always be forging ahead: the emotions set down on paper jostle one another, as if he knew that time was going to be precious to him. It is this perpetual, hallucinated struggle with fate that is so magnificent in Schumann.
This world premiere live recording of the complete solo piano works of Robert Schumann, achieved only after a titanic preparation, marks a milestone in the discography!
‘You can’t tackle this music as the fancy takes you. Singing his music was one thing that helped me to understand Schumann.’
Extra material for download
