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Einsam
Robert Schumann

Nino Gvetadze

Einsam

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917285529
Catnr: CC 72855
Release date: 04 September 2020
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Label
Challenge Classics
UPC
0608917285529
Catalogue number
CC 72855
Release date
04 September 2020

"Nino Gvetadze's playing is not only technically solid, easily able to handle the treacherous difficulties found in this music—particularly those in the dauntingly virtuosic Kreisleriana­—but musically satisfying. Her playing is always eloquent, even in the most bombastic passages. And magically she does not underplay this music in any way: In her hands Florestan is still frenzied and driven, Eusebius, tender and plaintive. [...] I was especially not expecting a Schumann album that so immediately goes to the top of my future recommendation list. But that is what I received. This is one of the best Schumann albums I have come across in some time, one which I will enjoy over and over again. Though I have never come across Gvetadze's name before, you can be sure I will look out for it in the future. Recommended. This is essential listening. "

Fanfare, 01-3-2021
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About the album

Robert Schumann’s piano music is invariably bound up with the dramatic events of his life. Schumann channelled both his love for Clara and his pianistic frustrations into his music, which was often composed with Clara in mind, both romantically and musically; she was an outstanding pianist and composer in her own right.

During the late 1830s Schumann wrote numerous works for the piano, many of which met with considerable success. The Arabeske in C, Op. 18 dates from early 1839. In a letter of 15 August Schumann described the piece, which was dedicated to Frau Majorin Friederike Serre auf Maxen, as “delicate – for ladies”, and it is true that it has a gently lyrical, dreamy quality. Yet there is more to the Arabeske than this modest description would suggest. Schumann had left Leipzig for Vienna in the autumn of 1838 after reaching an impasse in his relations with the Wiecks, and the keenness with which he felt the separation from Clara may be sensed in the Arabeske’s mixture of wistfulness and determination.

Of the piano music written by Schumann in the 1830s, just two collections include movement titles: the Phantasiestücke, Op. 12, and the Kinderszenen, Op. 15 of 1838. Schumann sketched 30 “cute little things” in early 1838, from which he chose 13 to create the Kinderszenen. The vivid movement titles were attached to each of the Kinderszenen after the music had been written, rather than inspiring the musical content. Yet the tender romanticism of these pieces – in Träumerei especially – suggests that Clara was never far from Schumann’s thoughts as he composed them.

Although Clara was a powerful source of inspiration for Robert, he was also profoundly influenced by both musical and literary sources, which helped him to make sense of his rich inner world. E.T.A. Hoffmann enabled Schumann to explore the different facets of his nature through the character of Johannes Kreisler, who appeared in several volumes including Hoffmann’s Fantasiestücke, one section of which is entitled ‘Kreisleriana’. Schumann strongly identified with Kapellmeister Kreisler: both men were devoted to the music of J.S. Bach, and both veered between extremities of mood, from ecstasy to despair. This multifaceted nature is encapsulated in the eight movements of Kreisleriana, Op. 16. Kreisler’s brusque mood-swings are represented through Schumann’s contrasts between dazzling virtuosity and lyrical tenderness, often anchored by the tonal contrast between the key areas of G minor and B-flat major. Schumann’s dual nature, previously communicated through Florestan and Eusebius, had found a new mouthpiece.
In contrast with the first decade of his career, which was almost entirely given over to piano music, Schumann did not write a great deal of solo piano music in the 1840s, producing just a handful of fugues and pieces for children. At the end of 1848 he began the Waldszenen (‘Forest Scenes’), a set of nine short piano pieces. ‘Vogel als Prophet’ is one of the more disturbing pieces in the set.

Schumann had returned from Vienna to Leipzig in April 1839. He drafted his Drei Romanzen, Op. 28, by 11 December. Clara was so enamoured of the set that she insisted on being their dedicatee: “As your bride you absolutely have to dedicate something more to me; and I know of nothing more tender than these three Romances, especially the middle one, which is the most beautiful love duet.”

Na haar veelgeprezen album Visions met muziek van Cyril Scott, komt Nino Gvetadze met het nieuwe album Einsam, met pianowerken van Robert Schumann. Het is de begenadigde pianiste weer gelukt een wonderschoon album te maken, met soms ingetogen, soms speels spel.

Het idee voor deze opname ontstond begin 2020, het jaar van eenzaamheid, isolement en stilte. De pandemie onderbrak onze menselijkheid en deze pauze bleek onze nieuwe realiteit te zijn. Het was voor iedereen anders, voor sommigen makkelijker dan voor anderen. Voor Nino Gvetadze voelde het als een achtbaan, dagen van pure sereniteit, werden gevolgd door rusteloze momenten. Al snel ontdekte ze dat niets natuurlijker en bevredigender aanvoelde, dan het spelen van de muziek van Robert Schumann. De muziek van deze man die, als geen ander, de tegenstrijdige kanten van de menselijke natuur voelde en begreep, kwam als geroepen. In zijn tijd vereenzelvigde Schumann zich met de term "Frei Aber Einsam" (vrij, maar eenzaam), in deze tijd voelde het voor velen van ons vooral "Einsam”.

Voor de pianiste vielen de stukken van Schumann op hun plek als parels aan een ketting: terugkijkend naar het verleden en kijkend naar vandaag en morgen. ‘Arabeske’, het eerste stuk van Schumann dat zij als kind ooit speelde. 'Kinderszenen', waarin ze nu haar eigen kinderen herkent. Een reflectie van de huidige en vreemde realiteit in het excentrieke en tegelijkertijd betoverende 'Kreisleriana'. De onzekere toekomst, weerspiegeld in 'Vogel als Prophet' en uiteindelijk 'Romanze': hoop op troost.

Nino Gvetadze groeide op in Tbilisi, Georgië en verhuisde na haar conservatoriumstudie naar Nederland. Ze heeft een drukke internationale carrière, won prijzen en wordt alom geprezen om haar spel. Ze trad als solist op onder leiding van beroemde dirigenten en met grote orkesten in binnen- en buitenland. Het NRC noemde haar "Een geboren pianiste die de kunst verstaat om zelfs tijdens de meest halsbrekende passages tot het hart te spreken."

Robert Schumanns Klaviermusik ist ausnahmslos mit den dramatischen Ereignissen in seinem Leben verbunden. Schumann ließ sowohl seine Liebe zu Clara als auch seine pianistischen Frustrationen in seine Musik fließen, die oft im Gedanken an Clara entstand, romantisch wie musikalisch – sie war eine eigenständige, herausragende Pianistin und Komponistin.
Am Ende der 1830er Jahre schrieb Schumann zahlreiche Werke für Klavier, von denen viele sehr erfolgreich waren. Die Arabeske in C-Dur, Op.18, datiert auf den Anfang des Jahres 1839. In einem Brief vom 15. August beschreibt Schumann das Stück, das der Frau Majorin Friederike Serre auf Maxen gewidmet war, als 'schwächlich und für Damen', und es besitzt tatsächlich eine sanft lyrische, träumerische Qualität. Doch in der Arabeske steckt mehr als diese verhaltene Beschreibung erahnen lässt. Schumann hatte Leipzig im Herbst 1838 verlassen und war nach Wien gereist, als seine Beziehung mit den Wiecks in einer Sackgasse geendet war, und man mag in der Mischung von Schwermut und Entschlossenheit nachfühlen, wie intensiv er die Trennung von Clara empfunden hat.
Von der Klaviermusik, die Schumann in den 1830ern komponierte, enthalten nur zwei Sammlungen Satzbezeichnungen: die Phantasiestücke, Op. 12, und die Kinderszenen, Op. 15, aus dem Jahr 1838. Schumann skizzierte 'dreißig kleine putzige Dinger', aus denen er 13 auswählte und 'Kinderszenen' nannte. Die lebhaften Satzbezeichnungen wurde jeder der Szenen erst nach dem Komponieren angehängt, und nicht der musikalische Inhalt von der Beschreibung inspiriert. Doch die zarte Romantik der Stücke - insbesondere der Träumerei - legt nahe, das Schumanns Gedanken beim Komponieren nie lange von Clara abschweiften.
Wenngleich Clara für Robert eine immense Inspiration war, wurde er auch stark von musikalischen und literarischen Quellen beeinflusst, was ihm half, seiner inneren Welt Sinn zu verleihen. E.T.A. Hoffmann befähigte Schumann, die verschiedenen Facetten seiner Natur durch die Figur des Johannes Kreisler zu erkunden, ein Charakter, der in verschiedenen Ausgaben erscheint, einschließlich Hoffmanns Fantasiestücken, von denen ein Abschnitt als Kreisleriana betitelt ist. Schumann identifizierte sich stark mit dem Kapellmeister Kreisler: beide Männer widmeten sich der Musik J.S. Bachs, und beide schwankten zwischen Stimmungsextremen, von Ekstase zu Verzweiflung. Diese facettenreiche Natur ist in den acht Sätzen der Kreisleriana, Op. 16, ummantelt. Kreislers brüske Stimmungsschwankungen werden repräsentiert in Schuberts Kontrast zwischen umwerfender Virtuosität und lyrischer Zärtlichkeit, oft verankert durch den tonalen Kontrast zwischen den Tonartenbereichen g-Moll und B-Dur. Schumanns dualer Charakter, zuvor kommuniziert durch Florestan und Eusebius, hatte ein neues Sprachrohr gefunden.
Im Kontrast zum ersten Jahrzehnt seiner Karriere, die fast ausschließlich der Klaviermusik gewidmet war, schrieb Schumann in den 1840er Jahren kaum für Klavier solo, lediglich eine Hand voll Fugen und Stücke für Kinder. Am Ende des Jahres 1848 begann er die Arbeit an den Waldszenen, eine Sammlung von neun kurzen Klavierstücken. Vogel als Prophet ist eines der aufwühlenderen Stücke dieses Werks. Im April 1839 war Schumann von Wien nach Leipzig zurückgekehrt. Er entwarf seine Drei Romanzen, Op. 28, vor dem 11. Dezember. Clara hatte sich so in das Stück verliebt, dass sie darauf bestand, seine Widmungsträgerin zu sein: 'Als Deine Braut musst Du mir durchaus noch etwas dedieiren, und da weiß ich denn doch nichts Zarteres als diese 3 Romanzen, besonders die Mittelste, die ja das schönste Liebesduett.'

Artist(s)

Nino Gvetadze (piano)

Born and raised in Tbilisi, Georgian pianist Nino Gvetadze leads an international career as a soloist and a chamber musician. Her performances have been praised by many critics throughout the Europe and Asia. Nino received various awards, the most important were the Second Prize, Press Prize and Audience Award at the International Franz Liszt Piano Competition 2008. She became the winner of prestigious Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award in 2010. Since 2019 Nino Gvetadze is the Artistic Leader of Naarden International Piano Festival. Nino Gvetadze has performed with many outstanding conductors such as Michel Plasson, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Michel Tabachnik, John Axelrod and Jaap van Zweden and with orchestras such as the Rotterdam, Residentie-The Hague, Brussels, Espoo-Helsinki, Warsaw, Seoul and Netherlands Philharmonic, Bergische and the...
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Born and raised in Tbilisi, Georgian pianist Nino Gvetadze leads an international career as a soloist and a chamber musician. Her performances have been praised by many critics throughout the Europe and Asia. Nino received various awards, the most important were the Second Prize, Press Prize and Audience Award at the International Franz Liszt Piano Competition 2008. She became the winner of prestigious Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award in 2010. Since 2019 Nino Gvetadze is the Artistic Leader of Naarden International Piano Festival.

Nino Gvetadze has performed with many outstanding conductors such as Michel Plasson, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Michel Tabachnik, John Axelrod and Jaap van Zweden and with orchestras such as the Rotterdam, Residentie-The Hague, Brussels, Espoo-Helsinki, Warsaw, Seoul and Netherlands Philharmonic, Bergische and the Rheinische Philharmonie, Münchner Symphoniker, amongst others. She toured with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Kammerakademie Potsdam, Camerata RCO and Amsterdam Sinfonietta.

Recent highlights are the performance of Ulvi Cemal Erkin’s piano concerto in Istanbul and the Variations on a nursery tune of Dohnány with the Liege Royal Philharmonic and chief conductor Gergely Madaras.

In recital Nino has performed all over the world, among other in Hannover (PRO MUSICA Preisträger amKlavier-Zyklus), Bayreuth, Herkulessaal and Prinzregententheater Munich, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, with Jean-Yves Thibaudet at the Spoleto Festival, Lucerne Piano Festival, Bunka-kaikan Hall Tokyo, Kuhrhaus Wiesbaden, the Festival Piano aux Jacobins (Toulouse), Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival (Finland). In the Netherlands Nino is a regular guest at Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Muziekgebouw Eindhoven and Edesche Concertzaal. Since 2008 Nino plays in the "Arosa Trio" with her colleagues Frederieke Saeijs and Maja Bogdanovic.

Nino Gvetadze is a Challenge Classics artist. On her 2nd album “Visions” she presents piano pieces of the English composer Cyril Scott. Music journal “Pianist” wrote about her first CD “Ghosts” with the 24 Préludes of Chopin: ‘Gvetadze makes the listener - partly thanks to the wonderful recording - companion of the most intimate thoughts’. Repertoire that has been released on other labels: piano works by Mussorgsky (Brilliant Classics), Rachmaninoff Preludes op 23 and op 32 (Etcetera), “Debussy” with the Préludes book I, Estampes and Claire de Lune (Orchid) and “Widmung” with Liszt piano works (Orchid). The Debussy CD was editor’s choice of both International Record Review (April 2014).

In Tbilisi Nino studied with Veronika Tumanishvili, Nodar Gabunia and Nana Khubutia. After her graduation Nino moved to the Netherlands to study with Paul Komen and Jan Wijn. Nino plays on a Steinway Grand Piano, kindly lent to her by the Dutch National Music Instrument Foundation.


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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

Nino Gvetadze's playing is not only technically solid, easily able to handle the treacherous difficulties found in this music—particularly those in the dauntingly virtuosic Kreisleriana­—but musically satisfying. Her playing is always eloquent, even in the most bombastic passages. And magically she does not underplay this music in any way: In her hands Florestan is still frenzied and driven, Eusebius, tender and plaintive. [...] I was especially not expecting a Schumann album that so immediately goes to the top of my future recommendation list. But that is what I received. This is one of the best Schumann albums I have come across in some time, one which I will enjoy over and over again. Though I have never come across Gvetadze's name before, you can be sure I will look out for it in the future. Recommended. This is essential listening. 
Fanfare, 01-3-2021

The tremendous artistic means at her disposal let the Schumann of this time "speak" - with very well-designed tempo nuances, a sound that is as rounded as it is rich and a sense of dramaturgical skill, with tense, delusional and ambiguous contrasts. The whole thing is so haunting that one looks into Schumann's own soul in the "Scenes from Childhood".
Piano News, 01-1-2021

Gvetadze's focus is unerring and, if the expressive content of the music is always front and centre, she also has an uncanny ability to elucidate the overall structure with immensive subtlety. If you don't yet know her playing, great pleasures await.
Gramophone, 01-12-2020

Schumann in lockdown. According to Nino Gvetadze, we all have those two opposites in us. During the lockdown they became even more tangible.
Pianist, 20-11-2020

It’s an absolutely lovely disc. It speaks clearly and personally to you, if you give it a listen. I found it very rewarding.
BBC Radio3 , 26-10-2020

Her new CD, with its purpose – in her own words, to brighten an hour in this year of “loneliness, isolation, and silence” – is an unalloyed delight.
Independent, 22-10-2020

What struck me the most, besides the accurate but personal characterization of the pieces, was hearing all the notes, all the polyphony in full clarity without losing the general line.
Musique classique & Co, 17-9-2020

What struck me the most, besides the right but personal characterization of the pieces, was hearing all the notes, all the polyphony in full clarity, without losing the general line. [...] A discovery.
Musique classique & Co, 17-9-2020

Her playing is captivating in the modest and natural phrasing. In addition, Gvetadze Schumann's tender moments or his musical outbursts manage to give the required intensity without any emphasis.
Mania, 11-9-2020

When Nino Gvetadze's fingers touch the keys of the grand piano and the opening bars of Robert Schumann's Arabesque sound, you forget what you were doing. Gvetadze's mesmerizing touch and round sound are enchanting.
De Volkskrant, 10-9-2020

Important qualities in Schumann's piano oeuvre that are actually perfectly expressed in the sublime art of rendering of the Georgian Nino Gvetadze, who lives and works in our country.
Opus Klassiek, 04-9-2020

Pianist Nino Gvetadze lets her listeners wander admiringly through the shadowy realm of Robert Schumann.
NRC, 31-8-2020

Sorceress on the 88 keys!
Het Parool, 29-8-2020

Nino Gvetadze, Einsam, Robert Schumann on the Challenge Classics label. Beautiful piano playing.
Stretto, 21-8-2020

Play album Play album
01.
Arabeske, Op. 18
07:39
(Robert Schumann) Nino Gvetadze
02.
Kinderszenen, Op. 15: 1. Von fremden Landern und Menschen
01:40
(Robert Schumann) Nino Gvetadze
03.
Kinderszenen, Op. 15: 2. Curiose Geschichte
01:07
(Robert Schumann) Nino Gvetadze
04.
Kinderszenen, Op. 15: 3.Hasche-Mann
00:32
(Robert Schumann) Nino Gvetadze
05.
Kinderszenen, Op. 15: 4. Bittendes Kind
00:49
(Robert Schumann) Nino Gvetadze
06.
Kinderszenen, Op. 15: 5. Gluckes genug
01:04
(Robert Schumann) Nino Gvetadze
07.
Kinderszenen, Op. 15: 6. Wichtige Begebenheit
00:46
(Robert Schumann) Nino Gvetadze
08.
Kinderszenen, Op. 15: 7. Traumerei
02:42
(Robert Schumann) Nino Gvetadze
09.
Kinderszenen, Op. 15: 8. Am Camin
00:57
(Robert Schumann) Nino Gvetadze
10.
Kinderszenen, Op. 15: 9. Ritter vom Steckenpferd
00:45
(Robert Schumann) Nino Gvetadze
11.
Kinderszenen, Op. 15: 10. Fast zu ernst
01:46
(Robert Schumann) Nino Gvetadze
12.
Kinderszenen, Op. 15: 11. Furchtenmachen
01:54
(Robert Schumann) Nino Gvetadze
13.
Kinderszenen, Op. 15: 12. Kind im Einschlummern
02:02
(Robert Schumann) Nino Gvetadze
14.
Kinderszenen, Op. 15: 13. Der Dichter spricht
02:30
(Robert Schumann) Nino Gvetadze
15.
Kreisleriana, Op. 16: Außerst bewegt
02:35
(Robert Schumann) Nino Gvetadze
16.
Kreisleriana, Op. 16: Sehr innig und nicht zu rasch
09:09
(Robert Schumann) Nino Gvetadze
17.
Kreisleriana, Op. 16: Sehr aufgeregt
04:23
(Robert Schumann) Nino Gvetadze
18.
Kreisleriana, Op. 16: Sehr langsam
03:41
(Robert Schumann) Nino Gvetadze
19.
Kreisleriana, Op. 16: Sehr lebhaft
03:07
(Robert Schumann) Nino Gvetadze
20.
Kreisleriana, Op. 16: Sehr langsam
04:11
(Robert Schumann) Nino Gvetadze
21.
Kreisleriana, Op. 16: Sehr rasch
02:10
(Robert Schumann) Nino Gvetadze
22.
Kreisleriana, Op. 16: Schnell und spielend
03:39
(Robert Schumann) Nino Gvetadze
23.
From Waldszenen, Op. 82: VII. Vogel als Prophet
03:27
(Robert Schumann) Nino Gvetadze
24.
From 3 Romanzen, Op.28: II. Einfach
04:07
(Robert Schumann) Nino Gvetadze
show all tracks

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Nino Gvetadze - Romanze op.28 - Robert Schumann..

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