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Scenes and Fantasies
Robert Schumann

Einav Yarden

Scenes and Fantasies

Price: € 20.95
Format: SACD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917277623
Catnr: CC 72776
Release date: 18 May 2018
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Label
Challenge Classics
UPC
0608917277623
Catalogue number
CC 72776
Release date
18 May 2018

"Decidedly, this pianist is a poet."

ARTAMAG', 22-2-2019
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
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About the album

The three works on this CD span a period of fifteen years – years in which the young Schumann suffered forcible separation from his beloved Clara, followed by their marriage and a brief period of relative calm, to the increasing bouts of mental instability which were to close him off from the world around him until his death.

The piano Fantasiestücke op. 111 was composed in 1851 during a time of deteriorating mental health and increasing disillusionment with his post as Music Director of the Düsseldorf Music Society. In contrast to the youthfully extrovert Fantasiestücke op. 12 of 1837, these three untitled pieces are “of a serious and passionate character”, as Clara described them, their bold harmonies intensifying their expressivity.

The Fantasie in C major op. 17 is one of Schumann’s most powerful large-scale piano works, composed during the bitter period of his enforced separation from Clara.

Schumann completed his cycle of nine forest piano miniatures, Waldszenen, in 1849, while struggling with increasing bouts of mental instability and depression. Each piece is headed by a descriptive title. These masterly tone paintings display Schumann’s genius in creating miniature images consummate in expression, characterisation and mood.

About Einav Yarden’s previous recordings on Challenge Classics:
She pairs Beethoven with Stravinsky to striking effect, merging that unlikely couple with imagination and exceptionally vivid playing.” – The Washington Post

“Yarden plays a wonderfully exuberant, vibrant Haydn, glowing, transparent, adventurous, at times intimately chamber-music-like, at times grand and orchestral. A voice for Haydn!" – Fono Forum (DE)
Pianiste Einav Yarden speelt hier drie Fantasieën van Robert Schumann die een roerende periode van 15 jaar in het leven van de componist omvatten. Met creatief en gracieus pianospel verklankt de pianiste meesterlijk het genie en talent van Schumann. " Haar techniek en geprezen pianospel, bijwijlen krachtig en gearticuleerd, bijwijlen zacht en intiem poëtisch, komen hier (alweer) wondermooi tot uiting.", schrijft Michel Dutrieue in zijn recensie op Stretto.


Prachtige muziek uit een moeilijke periode

Schumanns Fantasieën zijn geschreven gedurende 15 jaar. Een tijd waarin hij verliefd werd op Clara, de dochter van zijn pianoleraar Friedrich Wieck, die hen verbood elkaar te ontmoeten. Uit die tijd stamt de Fantasie in C op. 17, een van zijn meest krachtige en grootschalige pianowerken. Uiteindelijk moest de rechter er aan te pas komen om ervoor te zorgen dat het stel in 1940 toch in het huwelijk kon treden. Er volgde een korte periode van relatieve rust, maar Schumann zou last krijgen van depressies. Hij voltooide zijn cyclus van negen, Waldszenen, in 1849 en schreef de Fantasiestücke op. 111 in 1851, terwijl zijn geestelijke gezondheid steeds meer verslechterde. In 1856 overleed Schumann in een inrichting.

Begenadigd pianiste met vloeiend spel

Einav Yarden werd in 1978 in Israel geboren. Ze studeerde onder anderen bij de Amerikaanse pianist en dirigent Leon Fleisher. Als soliste trad ze op met gerenommeerde orkesten en dirigenten. Einav is een enthousiast kamermuzikant en wordt regelmatig voor verschillende muziekprojecten uitgenodigd. Einav Yarden wordt geprezen om haar “uitzonderlijk levendige articulatie…onderzoekende, verhalende, vloeiende spel” (General Anzeiger, Duitsland) en haar “fonkelende vervoering…ingenieuze humor” (Tagesspiegel, Duitsland).
Die drei Werke auf dieser CD umfassen einen Zeitraum von fünfzehn Jahren – Jahre, in denen der junge Schumann gewaltsame Trennung von seiner geliebten Clara erlitt, gefolgt von ihrer Heirat und einer kurzen Phase relativer Ruhe, hin zu den Schüben mentaler Instabilität, die den Komponisten bis zu seinem Tod zunehmend von seiner Umwelt abschneiden würden.

Die Fantasiestücke Op. 111 für Klavier entstanden 1851 während einer Zeit gesundheitlicher Verschlechterung und zunehmender Ernüchterung mit seiner Position als Musikdirektor der Düsseldorfer Musikgesellschaft. Im Gegensatz zu den Fantasiestücken Op. 12 (1837) sind diese drei unbetitelten Stücke „von sehr ernstem, leidenschaftlichen Charakter“, wie Clara sie beschrieb, und ihre kühne Harmonik verstärkt ihre Ausdruckskraft.

Die Fantasie in C-Dur Op. 17 ist eines von Schumanns beeindruckendsten, großen Klavierwerken, komponiert in der bitteren Zeit der Trennung von Clara.

Schumann vollendete seinen Zyklus von neun Klavierminiaturen Waldszenen 1849, während er zunehmend mit mentaler Haltlosigkeit und Depression kämpfte. Jedes Stück trägt einen deskriptiven Titel. Diese meisterlichen Tongemälde zeigen Schumanns Genialität bei der Kreation von Miniaturbildern, die vollendet in Ausdruck, Charakterisierung und Stimmung sind.

Zu Einav Yardens vorherigen Aufnahmen auf Challenge Classics:
„Sie kombiniert Beethoven und Strawinsky mit packendem Effekt und sie verbindet dieses ungleiche Paar mit Einfallsreichtum und außergewöhnlich lebendigem Spiel.“ – The Washington Post

„Yarden spielt einen wunderbar quirligen, lebendigen Haydn, leuchtend, transparent, abenteuerhungrig, mal intim karmmermusikalisch, mal groß und orchestral. Eine Werbung für den oft Belächelten!” – Fono Forum

Artist(s)

Einav Yarden (piano)

Pianist Einav Yarden is praised for her “…imagination and exceptionally vivid playing…Sense of immense majesty, tempered by gentleness and quiet grace” (The Washington Post, USA), and “glistening rapture…ingenious humor” (Der Tagesspiegel, Germany). She appeared as a soloist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestera, Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt, Jerusalem Symphony, Bucharest Philharmonic, Calgary Philharmonic and others, under conductors as Sir Neville Marriner, Aldo Ceccato, Steven Sloane, Leon Botstein, Frédéric Chaslin, Simon Halsey and Mendi Rodan.  Her engagements over the past seasons include solo performances at the 92nd Street Y in NYC, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam, Salle Cortot in Paris, Nikolaisaal in Potsdam, Musis Arnhem in the Netherlands, and a solo performance at the...
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Pianist Einav Yarden is praised for her “…imagination and exceptionally vivid playing…Sense of immense majesty, tempered by gentleness and quiet grace” (The Washington Post, USA), and “glistening rapture…ingenious humor” (Der Tagesspiegel, Germany). She appeared as a soloist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestera, Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt, Jerusalem Symphony, Bucharest Philharmonic, Calgary Philharmonic and others, under conductors as Sir Neville Marriner, Aldo Ceccato, Steven Sloane, Leon Botstein, Frédéric Chaslin, Simon Halsey and Mendi Rodan.

Her engagements over the past seasons include solo performances at the 92nd Street Y in NYC, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam, Salle Cortot in Paris, Nikolaisaal in Potsdam, Musis Arnhem in the Netherlands, and a solo performance at the Margravial Opera House in Bayreuth, subbing in for the international star Daniil Trifonov with just a few hours’ notice, and leaving the audience “deeply overjoyed and impressed” (Piano News, Germany). Other celebrated stages on which she has performed include the Berlin Philharmonie and the Philharmonie Chamber Music Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, the Phillips Collection in Washington DC, the Rose Theater at Lincoln Center in New York, the Beethoven-Haus Bonn, Concertgebouw de Vereeniging in Nijgmegen, Schumannsaal in Düsseldorf, Musée d’Orsay Auditorium in Paris, and others.

Einav Yarden released three solo CDs on the label Challenge Classics, all of which received highly enthusiastic international acclaim on leading international magazines as Gramophone, Fono Forum, Diapason, Piano News Magazine, Fanfare Magazine, Luister Magazine, International Piano Magazine, Amadeus Magazine and many others. Her Haydn Sonatas CD was awarded the prestigious German Records Critics’ Prize (Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik - Bestenliste). Her fourth CD with this label is scheduled to be released in spring 2023.

She is a passionate chamber musician and enthusiastically incorporates unique repertoire into her programs. Major festival appearances include the Ruhr Piano Festival (Germany), La Roque d’Anthéron International Piano Festival (France), Ravinia Festival (USA), Verbier Festival (Switzerland), Menton Festival, and Flâneries Musicales de Reims Festival (France), Piano Biennale Festival (Netherlands), Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival, Upper-Galilee Chamber Music Festival (Israel), and others.
Einav Yarden taught chamber music at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg from 2016-18 and served as part-time substitute professor of piano at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt am Main, and at the Music Conservatory of the Lucerne University and at the in subsequent years. Among her competition awards are top prizes at the International Beethoven Piano Competition in Bonn, the Minnesota International Piano-e-Competition and top prizes at the Aviv Competitions in Israel, where she was awarded the piano Guralnik Prize and the prize for best performance of contemporary Israeli work.

She was a longtime student of the legendary pianist Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore (Johns Hopkins University), and prior to that studied with Prof. Emanuel Krasovsky at Tel Aviv University, earning high honors for her Bachelors and Masters degrees at both universities. In her youth she studied with Hadassa Gonen at the Israeli Conservatory of Music in Tel Aviv. Other strong influences were received from Richard Goode, Elisso Virsaldaze and Prof. Zvi Meniker (on historical pianos). She was a recipient of the AICF scholarships between 1996-2005. She currently resides in Berlin, Germany.


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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...
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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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Press

Decidedly, this pianist is a poet.
ARTAMAG', 22-2-2019

She executes these pieces with such depth and panache that it’s impossible not to listen with bated breath. Einav Yarden is a captivating pianist with a clear vision and a wonderful, convincing sound.
Piano News Magazine, 07-9-2018

It should be emphasized that, on the threshold of this admirable and splendidly recorded piece, Fantasiestücke op. 111 sound as strange, enigmatic, fleeting and sombre as they should be.
Diapason, 07-9-2018

She illustrates long, elegant musical lines, and in fact, the measuredness of her expression and sensitivity of her pianistic colors, emphasizes the wealth of imagination and unique magic of the pieces...
Haaretz Newspaper, 10-8-2018

Yarden always shows her intelligence in repertoire choice, besides the indisputable qualities as a pianist. This record turns out to be especially close to her for stylistical kinship and deep understanding of the compositions.
Amadeus Magazine, 01-7-2018

Poetry, passion, intimacy - these are terms that Einav Yarden likes to use in connection with Schumann, bundled in the generic term: the 'Fantastic
Fono Forum, 15-6-2018

In Einav Yarden's way of playing Schumann, the vocal is always in the foreground
Fono Forum, 15-6-2018

In all the capricious passages, as a result of Schumann's great mood swings and depressions, she manages to guard the long lines in the music with her controlled play, while in the serene and the more light-hearted moments she takes the time everywhere.
Mania, 08-6-2018

The interpretation of the young Israeli pianist Einav Yarden lies in the right center between words, pathos and ethos… she fancies fancifully over the keys…”.
De Standaard, 06-6-2018

Yarden proves once again being amongst the best pianists around, delivering here an attractive, well balanced recital. [...] A deeply moving account.
HRAudio, 04-6-2018

Her new Schumann CD is a jewel. Yarden not only paints Schumann's free spirit, she can also handle the delusions of his later years.
De Volkskrant, 27-4-2018

4**** Her new Schumann cd is a gem. Yarden not only paints Schumann’s free spirit very accurately, but also handles the delusions from his later life extremely well.
De Volkskrant, 26-4-2018

The new Schumann CD of the Israeli pianist Einav Yarden for Challenge Classics. Heavenly! Her technique and acclaimed piano playing, at times vigorous and articulated, at times soft and intimately poetic, are here (again) expressed wonderfully.
Stretto, 12-4-2018

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