Forwad-Festival: Schumannliebe 1

Once upon a time, there were three great musicians, and they were all passionate about Robert Schumann. So Sir András Schiff, Antoine Tamestit, and Jörg Widmann decided to join together to play his music. Two late chamber works bear witness to the Romantic fascination with fairy tales, though Jörg Widmann sees the Märchenerzählungen in particular as a “disjointed, contemporary work.” Indeed, he views fairy tales as a “seismograph of humanity’s underlying primal fears and desires.” Which is why Widmann understands his own cycle Es war einmal ... (“Once upon a Time”) not as a “sentimental, nostalgic flight into the distant past,” but as “a naive and fantastical alternative concept to our real world, with all its upheavals.” György Kurtág, too, took up Schumann’s unusual scoring for a trio of clarinet, viola, and piano, paying tribute to the composer’s various alter egos and fantasy figures — from the eccentric Kapellmeister Kreisler to the wise Master Raro. The program also includes the Geistervariationen, the work Schumann was writing immediately before his suicide attempt and mental collapse: angels were said to have sung the theme to him.

Performers:
Jörg Widmann, clarinet
Antoine Tamestit, viola
Sir András Schiff, piano

Program:
Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
Märchenerzählungen, Op. 132. Four pieces for clarinet, viola, and piano
Theme and Variations in E-flat major, WoO 24 Geistervariationen (“Ghost Variations”)

György Kurtág (*1926)
Hommage à R. Sch. for clarinet, viola, and piano, Op. 15d

Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
Märchenbilder, Op. 113. Four pieces for viola and piano

Jörg Widmann (*1973)
Es war einmal … (“Once upon a Time …”). Five pieces in fairy-tale style for clarinet, viola, and piano