Inna Faliks - The Schumann Project, Vol. 1 (2021)

Tracklist

01. Piano Sonata in G Minor: I. Allegro
02. Piano Sonata in G Minor: II. Adagio
03. Piano Sonata in G Minor: III. Scherzo
04. Piano Sonata in G Minor: IV. Rondo
05. Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13: I. Theme
06. Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13: II. Etude I (Variation 1) – Un poco più vivo
07. Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13: III. Etude II (Variation 2) – Andante
08. Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13: IV. Etude III – Vivace
09. Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13: V. Posthumous Variation I
10. Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13: VI. Posthumous Variation II
11. Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13: VII. Etude IV (Variation 3) – Allegro marcato
12. Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13: VIII. Etude V (Variation 4) – Scherzando
13. Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13: IX. Posthumous Variation III
14. Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13: X. Etude VI (Variation 5) – Agitato
15. Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13: XI. Etude VII (Variation 6) – Allegro molto
16. Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13: XII. Etude VIII (Variation 7) – Sempre marcatissimo
17. Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13: XIII. Posthumous Variation IV
18. Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13: XIV. Etude IX – Presto possibile
19. Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13: XV. Etude X (Variation 8) – Allegro con energia
20. Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13: XVI. Etude XI (Variation 9) – Andante espressivo
21. Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13: XVII. Posthumous Variation V
22. Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13: XVIII. Etude XII (Finale) – Allegro brillante

Juxtaposing two large scale works by Clara Schumann (née Wieck) and Robert Schumann on a recording will certainly invite comparisons between them; however, my aim in The Schumann Project series is to simply unite, on each album, two or more works by kindred souls. How different the dynamics of this “power couple” of the 19th century might be today if one were to imagine Robert and Clara as equal partners in life. Robert’s endlessly rich, phantasmagorical compositional world thrived with a muse like Clara. Robert surely respected Clara the concert pianist and didn’t necessarily discourage Clara the composer. But Clara the concert pianist, mother, wife and caretaker to her troubled, unstable husband outweighed Clara the composer – so much so that her confidence in her own compositional skill simply had no room to blossom. Offering Robert’s and Clara’s music together on the same program is not only a tribute to their musical voices but also to love and partnership in its many forms and with all its complexities, pains and joys.

My experience with Robert and Clara Schumann began when I was 15 years old, and was asked to perform Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor (composed when she was 15) with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Around the same time, my teacher in Chicago, Emilio del Rosario, was preparing Robert Schumann’s Carnaval at the Music Institute of Chicago. As he worked on it, I heard the piece’s magical characters emerge from his studio, day after day. I became obsessed with the most unpredictable, whimsical, hearton-the-sleeve musical language I had ever encountered. I had to learn this piece and this language! The obsession never left me, and since then many of Robert Schumann’s large scale piano works became staples of my repertoire. But only in recent years have I begun to rediscover Clara’s piano music. Last spring, my students at UCLA performed her works for piano in their entirety. Shortly thereafter, I decided to embark on a journey I had always planned, recording much of Robert’s music, but together with Clara’s. Her compositional voice, while perhaps not developed to its full extent, speaks with individuality and brilliance. On one hand, I never want to leave Robert’s imaginary world of literary references, unfulfilled yearnings, hidden riddles, grand gestures and lyrical intimations. For me, no other composer of his time speaks as unguardedly and unabashedly from the heart, giving performers great opportunity for fantasy, interpretive freedom and the most intimate kind of communication. On the other hand, Clara was an inseparable part of his world and his music, quite literally – Robert quoted her often, at times without credit. In turn, her voice, with its meandering, uncomfortable chromaticism, unpredictable harmonic turns, stormy gestures and profound tenderness, is like no other. “I had once believed I had creative talent, but I have given up this idea; a woman must not wish to compose – there was never one able to do it. Am I intended to be the one?” she wrote in her diary. Her husband, presumably, never answered clearly.

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