SCHUMANN - Vincenzo Maltempo

A l s o ava i l a b l e
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Variations
MENDELSSOHN
LIEDER OHNE WORTE
BEETHOVEN
ErOica VariaTiONs
Songs without Words
Complete
Chopin
racHMaNiNOFF
cHOpiN VariaTiONs
ÉTUDES
cOpLaND
piaNO VariaTiONs
Alexander Korsantia
PCL0066
complete
Balázs Szokolay
Z lata C hoChieva
2-CD
PCLD0067
PCL0068
Earl Wild
BENJAMIN GODARD
The complete transcriptions
and original piano works
VOLUME 1
Schubert
Giovanni Doria Miglietta, piano
PCL0069
PCL0070
PIANO WORKS
Piano Sonata in B flat D960
Piano Sonata in A D664
Barcarolles
Scènes italiennes
Vingt pièces Op. 58
Klára Würtz
ALESSANDRO DELJAVAN
PCL0072
SCHUMANN
Piano Sonata Op. 14
Romanzen Op. 28
Humoreske Op. 20
The Sonata in F minor was one of the
many works of which Schumann declared
could “only be understood against the
background of the battles which Clara
cost me”. It was begun in 1835, when
he finally realized that the sixteen
year old daughter of his former teacher
Ferdinand Wieck, whom he had known
since she was nine, was the love of his
life, and completed in its first version
during the “sad summer” of 1836 after
her outraged father had forbidden Clara
to see or communicate with him. The
sonata has a complex compositional
history: conceived on a grand scale
as a five movement work with two
scherzi flanking an extended variations
movement, it was ready by March 1836
when receipt of the manuscript was
acknowledged by his publisher Haslinger
and Schumann had notified its intended
dedicatee Ignaz Moscheles. However dates
appearing on the surviving autograph
and in particular that of “5th June
1836” at the end of the work suggest
that Schumann subsequently made
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substantial modifications to it including
the composition of a new finale. It is not
certain who suggested calling the piece
a concerto but Haslinger, with an eye to
the market for novelties, was enthusiastic
about the idea. And so in order to conform
to concerto format, both scherzi were
dropped and for some reason Schumann
also decided to omit two of the six original
variations. It was published under the
title Concerto sans orchestre on October
14th 1836 as his Op 14. However many
including Liszt and Moscheles considered
the concerto designation as meaningless
with Moscheles also judging the work to be
unsuitable for the “casual listener”, and in
this he was proved right as it turned out to
be Schumann’s least popular sonata.
Several years later, the Hamburg
publisher Julius Schuberth acquired
publication rights in the work and wishing
to issue it as more conventional fourmovement sonata asked Schumann for a
scherzo. He reinstated the second of the
scherzi omitted from the 1836 version
and made several revisions to all the
movements, in some cases reverting
to the original unpublished material.
The four-movement version appeared
under the title Grande Sonate in 1853
but was never performed in public during
Schumann’s lifetime. However Clara did
play it privately to Brahms during his
momentous visit to the Schumanns in
October 1853 and it had an influence on
his own F Minor sonata (Op 5) much of
which was composed during his stay with
them. It was Brahms who gave the first
public performance in 1862 and he also
edited and arranged for the publication of
the other original scherzo (the two omitted
variations were published in 1983).
Robert wrote to Clara that this sonata
was a “Herzensschreinach” (a cry from
the heart) in which her theme assumed
“more guises” than she could imagine.
This is a reference to the theme of the third
movement designated Andantino de Clara
Wieck whose initial descending five-note
sequence – the Clara theme (which begins
on C with A as its third note) - is woven
into the fabric of the entire work (a similar
motif appears at the opening of the Op 17
Fantasie). Its arresting statement begins
the sonata and, in modified form, the
Scherzo and is concealed throughout the
Prestissimo possibile finale, acting as a
defiant declaration on Schumann’s part
that while Ferdinand Wieck might be able
to banish Clara from his life, he could not
exclude her from his music.
The Op 20 Humoreske was written and
(it appears) printed in the astonishingly
brief period of eight days in March 1839
while Schumann was in Vienna attempting
unsuccessfully to make arrangements
for publication there of his journal the
Neue Zeitschrift für Musik. In a letter
to Clara on the circumstances of its
composition he wrote “I sat at the piano
all week, composing, writing , laughing
and crying all at once” and these mood
swings are reflected in the oscillation
between exhilaration and moody reflection
(depending on which of Schumann’s alter
egos – Florestan or Eusebius – has the
upper hand) . Schumann was the first to
use the term Humoreske/Humoresque,
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Vincenzo Maltempo
previously applied only in literary critical
contexts, as the title of a piece of music
(which does not mean he intended the
piece to be humorous – in fact he once
described this as the most melancholy
of his works). The duality of its emotional
register derives from the writings of
his favourite author Jean Paul and the
distinction he drew between Gemütlich
(showing depth of emotion/sensitivity)
and Witzig (mercurial/fantastic). At
bars 251-275 an additional line appears
containing an Innere Stimme (inner voice)
whose melodic line is reminiscent of
Clara’s Romance in G minor (something
which Schumann claimed was pure
coincidence and an indication of their
empathetic natures). Opinions differ as
to whether this line should actually be
played (as it is in this recording ) or, as
Clara believed, only sensed and voiced
inwardly by the performer. The Op 28
Drei Romanzen were composed during
the last months of 1839 in the bitter
circumstances of the court case brought
by Schumann in attempt to force Wieck to
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withdraw his objections to their marriage
which in turn prompted Wieck to issue
furious denunciations of him. Schumann
sent the work to Clara as a Christmas
present indicating however that he did
not think them good enough to dedicate
to her. She replied on 1st January 1840:
“as your bride, you must indeed dedicate
something further to me, and I know of
nothing more tender than these three
Romances, in particular the middle one,
which is the most beautiful love duet”.
Her critical faculties were not however
entirely clouded by her warm reception of
the pieces: she suggested that he look at
them again and he made several revisions
prior to their publication in October 1840,
the month after they were married. The
Second Romance, which Schumann came
to think of as one of his finest works,
is unusual in that it is notated on three
staves something of which he normally
disapproved.
Born in 1985, Vincenzo Maltempo is
considered “one of the most interesting
Italian pianists of his generation” (La
Stampa). He completed his musical
studies under the guidance of Salvatore
Orlando (disciple of the pianist Sergio
Fiorentino) graduating with the highest
honours from the Conservatory "S.
Cecilia" in Rome, followed by training by
Riccardo Risaliti at the International Piano
Academy "Incontri col Maestro" in Imola,
earning a bachelor's completion in 2009.
Fundamental to his concert career was
the first prize at the prestigious piano
competition "Premio Venezia" in 2006,
held at the theater "La Fenice", received
with great acclaim by audiences and
critics. Lorenzo Arruga wrote on that
occasion: “Maltempo has a loving attitude
for authors and music, a warm touch,
phrasing free enough to speak musically
face to face with the public, almost a little
old-fashioned.” Following this success
he has performed a series of concerts
in important Italian and foreign music
halls and theatres in Spain, England,
Austria, Germany. He has been invited
back several times to play at the theater
"La Fenice" in Venice, both as a soloist
with the orchestra and he has been a
guest of the Accademia Filarmonica of
Verona and Bologna, of the "Bologna
Festival" and other major Italian concert
associations. He has been called an "acute
interpreter able to read the pages of the
repertoire on the basis of a self-reflection
interpretation”. (La Repubblica). He has
collaborated with the Orchestra of the
Gran Teatro "La Fenice", the "Orchestra
sinfonica giovanile del Piemonte” and the
"Bacau Philharmonic Orchestra" under
the direction of Ovidiu Balan, Paolo Olmi,
Bartholomeus Van de Velde and Claudio
Maria Micheli . He has also collaborated
with pianist Francesco Libetta in various
editions of "Miami International piano
festival in Lecce" and “four hands” during
the famous and ancient "Sagra musicale
Malatestiana" in Rimini, where he played
an “Alkan marathon” in a three part recital
in 2012. Later that year he also debuted at
the “Liszt Festival” in Raiding, Austria.
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In 2010 he began a fruitful collaboration
with the Conductor Gustav Kuhn, who
regularly invites him to give concerts at
his Academy of Montegral in Lucca. Music
critic Marcello Filotei wrote “phrasing
elegant, virtuosity never ostentatious,
mastery of form and musical sense.
Jot the name of gentlemen, a pianist
is born!”, for the “Erl Festspiele” at the
“Festival-suedtirol” in Dobbiaco, where
he had the opportunity to propose his
own transcription for solo piano of the
“Sinfonie in E” by Hans Rott. He has
composed some transcriptions of major
orchestral works which are published by
the publishing house Ries & Erler Berlin.
2011 marked the date of a major
debut at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, with
a solo recital dedicated to F. Liszt, on
the bicentenary of the birth – Gabriele
Balloi calls him “a prodigy for whom
everything seems to come easily...with
a transcendental virtuosity that does
not neglect even a single note.” And it
is precisely to Liszt that he dedicated
his first album, recorded in 2008 for the
Austrian label “Gramola” and presented
with a concert at Bosendorfersaal in
Vienna. Acclaimed by critics, “the infallible
instinct for balance and beauty of sound;
we have not heard “Réminescences de
Norma” played with such perfect phrasing
and with such a sensual “bel canto” for a
long time.” (R. Nemecek, Piano news).
In 2012 he recorded his debut album
for London based record label “Piano
Classics”, a CD entirely dedicated to
the French Romantic composer Ch. V.
Alkan, particularly dear to him and of
whom he is a passionate scholar. He
gives lectures about his art in some
Conservatories in Italy and is planning
also to write a biography. The album
was received with great enthusiasm,
being awarded the coveted five stars
in the magazine “Diapason” (“We
must return to the pioneering – and
undervalued – recordings of Ronald
Smith to find an approach so healthy and
convincing to the music of Alkan”) and
called “exhilarating, a real revelation”
by Andrew Clements in the Guardian
newspaper. Following the success of this
publication he has recorded a second
album in his Alkan series. This has also
received 5 stars in the Guardian, which
defined it as “thrillingly demonic!” with a
“larger-than-life swagger and unflinching
technique”. Moreover, he played the
complete set of Alkan’s 12 Etudes Op. 39
in a planned tour of Japan in November
2013, one of the very few times in
history that an interpreter plays them all
in a single recital.
After the success at the piano
competition in Venice he is on the podium
of other International Competitions.
In 2008 he was awarded First Prize at
the International Competition “F. Liszt”
of Grottammare (Italy) and in 2012
unanimous First Prize at the International
Competition "G. A. Fano" with Leslie
Howard as President of the jury.
In 2013 he was invited to be a member
of the Jury of the XVII “S. Rachmaninov
International Piano Competition” in
Morcone (Italy).
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