Severin von Eckardstein plays Robert Schumann by Severin von Eckardstein

Severin von Eckardstein

Severin von Eckardstein plays Robert Schumann

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: CAvi
UPC: 4260085533664
Catnr: AVI 8553366
Release date: 07 April 2017
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Label
CAvi

UPC
4260085533664

Catalogue number
AVI 8553366

Release date
07 April 2017

"CD of the week at Classic FM - NL"

Classic FM, 24-4-2017

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Artist(s)

Composer(s)

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About the album

'The term 'fantasia', in music, mainly refers to a free type of structure. Throughout history, the genre has allosed composers to jot down their musical ideas directly, like an improvisation, just as they first spring to mind. The fantasia became a popular instrumental genre in the 1800's, when it started to feature the dreamy, 'phantastic' element even more prominently; the piano and its universe of polyphony likewise played an essential role. The fantasia was thus an ideal genre for Scumann, whose music I view as the quintessence of German High Romanticism. Schumann's music is full of expression and driven by passion; at the same time it is disarmingly honest and private. Its textural sonority is full of variety, yet it always remains decent and straightforward, never attempting to posture with easy, flashy, superficial effects or by adding purely virtuosic embellishments. In my imagination, this music often evokes placid romantic scenes imbued with good-naturedness and a certain vulnerability: people of the simple classes, courtly settings, flowery childish joys, or the secretly shared yearnings of two lovers. It is as if such figures or allegories were placed in the midst of mysterious landscapes, lovingly painted with an eye for detail, and impressively set to music. Schumann often used teh word 'Fantasy' in the titles of his works - frequently as part of a compound noun, Fantasiestüc, or also sporadically Fantasietanz (dance). The music in such pieces is often of choice quality and profoundly expressive... (Eckardstein)

Artist(s)

Severin von Eckardstein (piano)

Severin von Eckardstein, one of the leading German pianists of his generation, has delighted the public with many highly acclaimed concerts, e.g. in Berlin, Moscow, Madrid, London, Paris, New York, Amsterdam, Budapest, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul. His talent could be enjoyed at renown music festivals, including Ruhr Piano Festival, La Roque d’Anthéron in France, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and the Miami International Piano Festival, where he played the opening concert in 2009. He has performed with conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Philippe Herreweghe, Lothar Zagrosek and Marek Janowski, and made important debuts, among others in 2007 (Amsterdam under Paavo Järvi), Dallas (under Jaap van Zweden), Budaypest (under Zsolt Hamar). During the European lockdown in November 20 he debuted with Mariinsky Orchestra (under Valery Gergiev) and the Ural Philhamonic in...

Severin von Eckardstein, one of the leading German pianists of his generation, has delighted the public with many highly acclaimed concerts, e.g. in Berlin, Moscow, Madrid, London, Paris, New York, Amsterdam, Budapest, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul. His talent could be enjoyed at renown music festivals, including Ruhr Piano Festival, La Roque d’Anthéron in France, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and the Miami International Piano Festival, where he played the opening concert in 2009.

He has performed with conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Philippe Herreweghe, Lothar Zagrosek and Marek Janowski, and made important debuts, among others in 2007 (Amsterdam under Paavo Järvi), Dallas (under Jaap van Zweden), Budaypest (under Zsolt Hamar). During the European lockdown in November 20 he debuted with Mariinsky Orchestra (under Valery Gergiev) and the Ural Philhamonic in Yekaterinburg, Russia.
As a frequent guest of the concert series Meesterpianisten at Concertgebouw Amsterdam, he was reinvited to this extraordinary series for the 8th time in 2020.
Von Eckardstein won prizes at numerous noteworthy international competitions, e.g. Ferruccio Busoni in Bozen (1998), Leeds International Piano Competition (2000), ARD-Competition in Munich (1999) and was awarded first prize at the Concours Reine Elisabeth in Brussels (2003).
Musically educated by Prof. Barbara Szczepanska, Prof. Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Prof. Klaus Hellwig and at the International Piano Academy Lake Como, he himself has been serving as master class instructor on many occasions, among others in South Korea, Finland, Belgium and at the UdK, Berlin.
In 2015 he founded the chamber concert series Klangbrücken at Konzerthaus Berlin together with violinist Franziska Hölscher.
CD recordings with compositions by Medtner, Scriabin, Wagner, Schubert, Schumann, Debussy and others are highly regarded. His latest album of Dupont´s cycle La maison dans les dunes was awarded with Diapason d´Or.

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Composer(s)

Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann was a German composer and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career as a virtuoso pianist. He had been assured by his teacher Friedrich Wieck that he could become the finest pianist in Europe, but a hand injury ended this dream. Schumann then focused his musical energies on composing.
Schumann's published compositions were written exclusively for the piano until 1840; he later composed works for piano and orchestra; many Lieder (songs for voice and piano); four symphonies; an opera; and other orchestral, choral, and chamber works. Works such as Carnaval, Symphonic Studies, Kinderszenen, Kreisleriana, and the Fantasie in C are among his most famous. His writings about music appeared mostly in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (New Journal for Music), a Leipzig-based publication which he jointly founded.
In 1840, Schumann married Friedrich Wieck's daughter Clara, against the wishes of her father, following a long and acrimonious legal battle, which found in favour of Clara and Robert. Clara also composed music and had a considerable concert career as a pianist, the earnings from which, before her marriage, formed a substantial part of her father's fortune.
Schumann suffered from a mental disorder, first manifesting itself in 1833 as a severe melancholic depressive episode, which recurred several times alternating with phases of ‘exaltation’ and increasingly also delusional ideas of being poisoned or threatened with metallic items. After a suicide attempt in 1854, Schumann was admitted to a mental asylum, at his own request, in Endenich near Bonn. Diagnosed with "psychotic melancholia", Schumann died two years later in 1856 without having recovered from his mental illness.

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