Music with Robert Schumann

Variations (Overture / Theme / Variation / Coda), Lyrical Intermezzo (Sostenuto), Symphonic Echoes (Allegro con moto).

Composers are repeatedly inspired by themes from older or contemporary masters to create cycles of variations (Brahms: Handel and Haydn Variations, Reger: Mozart Variations, Höller: Sweelinck Variations). Themes by Robert Schumann have received relatively little attention to date – (Reger’s Schumann Variations for two pianos are an exception) – perhaps because they are too perfect and complete in themselves and therefore offer little scope for change. Nevertheless, I had long been preoccupied with the idea of creating “music with Schumann,” echoes or memories of Schumann, with the intention of writing a cheerful, amiable (and thoughtful) work, for once without experimentation, as a “divertimento” for the average listener, occasionally cautiously combined with modern techniques – not without subtle humor.
The first movement was inspired by the “Papillons” (Opus 2 for piano); it is divided into four variation-like sections. The “Overture” presents three short themes which, despite their contrasting characters, complement each other as a matter of course (the introductory garland and final fanfare of the Papillons and the familiar opening motif from “Vogel als Prophet”). The sections “Theme,” “Variations,” and ‘Coda’ develop and transform the main theme of the “Papillons”; which dominates large sections of the movement and is combined with the motifs of the overture. The “Lyrical Intermezzo” is structured in a variety of ways. At the beginning, a motif from the ‘Nachtstücke’ (for piano) gains significance, appearing several times, “disturbed” by multi-tonal b-a-c-h clusters. The focus is on the theme of the second movement of the G minor Piano Sonata, Op. 22 (a moonlit song without words; woodwinds) and an adagio idea from the piano cycle Kreisleriana (low strings); both themes are counterpointed by twelve-tone structures and sound bands (woodwinds).
The “Spring Symphony” fanfare opens the finale. Then, above rotating sound surfaces (strings), individual tones and intervals form, aleatorically free, condensing, as if emerging from memory, into motifs from Schumann’s most famous symphony. After this hesitant beginning, an almost classical-sounding sonata development section develops with several melodic ideas (the main motif of the G minor piano sonata, dance-like and ostinato themes from the Spring Symphony), some of which are layered in and on top of each other until, at the climax of the movement, the final theme of the Piano Fantasy, Op. 17, sounds pathetically ironic in the brass. A short reprise with the main idea leads back to the opening fanfare; the movement fades away in pianissimo.
If one wanted to give the entire opus a motto, it would be Schumann’s heading (from Kinderszenen): “Almost too serious” – but only “almost.”
(Jürg Baur)