Gerhard Oppitz has a particular fondness for presenting major work groups in cyclic form, including Bach's 'Well-Tempered Clavier', Mozart's 18 sonatas, and Beethoven's 32 sonatas.
Compositional Technique
Schumann's Allegro Op. 8, originally conceived as the first movement of a piano sonata, challenges traditional sonata form with kaleidoscopic transformations and unexpected key changes.
Composition History
The 'Ghost Variations' WoO 24 were composed by Schumann in February 1854, immediately before his suicide attempt, with Clara Schumann noting that he believed the theme was sung to him by the spirits of Schubert and Mendelssohn.
Performer Biography
Gerhard Oppitz, the pianist on this album, won first prize at the 1977 Artur Rubinstein Competition in Israel, which launched his worldwide concert career.
Composer Biography
Robert Schumann, the composer, perceived the deaths of Hegel, Beethoven, Schubert, and Goethe between 1827 and 1832 as a historical turning point that both burdened and inspired his generation.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Schumann's piano music often uses extra-musical, literary, and poetological concepts, as well as his personal biography, to question established compositional and musical ideals.
Compositional Technique
Schumann's 'Abegg Variations' Op. 1 uses a theme of only five notes derived from the surname of a Heidelberg acquaintance, Meta Abegg, whom he playfully ennobled as 'Countess Pauline von Abegg'.
