Scenes and Fantasies by Einav Yarden

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)

Press

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

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” (Tagesspiegel, Germany). She has appeared as a soloist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Radio Symphony Orchestra of Berlin and the Rundfunkchor Berlin, Minnesota Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Bucharest Philharmonic, Jerusalem Symphony, Plovdiv Philharmonic, the Israel Symphony Rishon Le-Zion among others, under conductors as Sir Neville Marriner, Aldo Ceccato, Leon Botstein, Frédéric Chaslin, Stefan Blunier, Horia Andreescu, David Greilsammer, Simon Halsey, Mendi Rodan and others.

Her 2016 solo CD release of Haydn sonatas on Challenge Classics was awarded the quarterly German Record Critics’ Award (Preis der deutsche Schallplattenkritik), selected as CD-of-the-Month on the ‘Piano News’ magazine and received enthusiastic press from international publications. In 2013 she released her first solo CD for Challenge, called “Oscillations”. The CD received much international acclaim, and it combines works by Beethoven and Stravinsky.

Among the stages she performed on are the Berlin Philharmonie and the Berlin Philharmonie Chamber Music Hall, the Beethoven-Haus Bonn, Berlin Konzerthaus, the Phillips Collection in Washington DC, Rose Theater at Lincoln Center, Schumannsaal in Düsseldorf, and in Paris’s Salle Cortot, the Musée d’Orsay Auditorium, the Grand Salon of the Hotel des Invalides and others. Important festival participations include the Ruhr Piano Festival (Germany), Ravinia Festival (USA), The Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival (Israel), La Roque d’Anthéron International Piano Festival, Menton Festival and Flâneries Musicales de Reims Festival (France); Verbier Festival (Switzerland), Upper-Galilee Chamber Music Festival (Israel) and others.

Among her competition prizes is the Third Prize at the 2009 International Beethoven Piano Competition in Bonn, a Prize at the 2006 Minnesota International Piano-e-Competition and the First Prize at the 2001 Aviv Competitions in Israel, where she was awarded the Guralnik Piano Prize as well as the Zilbermann Prize for best performance of a contemporary Israeli work, and other prizes. Between 1996-2005, she was a recipient of the AICF scholarships, an important scholarship institution in Israel.

A passionate chamber musician, she devotes herself regularly to collaborations with other musicians and she enthusiastically incorporates non-standard repertoire into her programs. In 2016 she joined the adjunct faculty at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg, teaching chamber music. Between the summers of 2012-2017 she was a collaborative pianist at Ravinia Festival’s Steans Music Institute in the USA.
Her performances have been broadcast, among others, on BBC (England), Deutsches Welle, WDR, and Deutschlandradio Kultur (Germany), France Musique (France), WQXR (New York), WFMT (Chicago), MPR (Minnesota), QUSC (Los Angeles), WBJC (Baltimore), WPR (Wisconsin), CBC (Canada), NPO Radio 4 (Netherlands), and on Israel’s Kol Hamusica.

In 2005 she completed four years of study with the renowned pianist Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Conservatory (Johns Hopkins University), earning a Master of Music with high honors and a Graduate Performance Diploma. Prior to that she received a Bachelor of Music with high honors from the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at the Tel Aviv University under the instruction of Prof. Emanuel Krasovsky, and her early education was with Hadassa Gonen at the Israel Conservatory Tel Aviv. Other piano guidance includes that of Elisso Virsaladze, Richard Goode and Prof. Zvi Meniker (on historical fortepianos). She is currently based in Berlin, Germany.

Composer(s)

Robert Schumann

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