Schumannia

Close to the end of the lunar Chinese year, everyone is busy preparing for the new year. I was busy too, not for my house, but for my soul. I had a close encounter with a great musician who chose against his wealthy father's wishes a career, not in law but in music. Music must have been something which deeply touched his soul. And because it touched his, it touched mine too, through the Schumann Fest of the HKPO.

The initial encounter started with his first two symphonies and his cello concerto on January 18 under the baton of Hans Craf. Schumann's first symphony, his No.1 in B flat, op. 38 was originally called "Spring" because he was so affected by its spirit, shortly after his marriage to Clara Wieck. It was a symphony full of vigor and spirit right from the start in Andante un poco maestoso--Allegro molto vivace. with its second movement in larghetto, its third in Scherzo in molto vivace--molto piu vivace and its 4th in Allegro animato e grazioso. It was full of fanfare According  the programme notes, he wrote it with a quill pen found near the Beethoven's tomb. The influence of Beethoven was evident: its passion, its force, its romance and its sense of triumph and as Schumann is its composer, its poesy.

The second piece that evening was his Cello Concerto in A minor, Op 129 Nicht zu Schnell, Langsam, Sehr lebhaft, a piece which Schumann wrote in 2 weeks in October 1950 when he was about 40.  His wife, a musician herself, described the piece as a ravishing work,  full of freshness, euphony, romance and humor. I can't agree more with her. The resonant sound of the cello, its powerful undertone, its warmth and its flexibility was fully exploited probably  because Schumann's actually played the instrument for a while. Our cellist was Shanghai born and Australian trained Li-Wei Qin a recording artist for Universal Music China. But it took some time before he was able to fully dialogue and integrate his sound with that of the orchestra. I was slightly disappointed. 

The second half of the concert was devoted to Schumann's Symphony No. 2 in in C, Op 61 in Sosenuto assai--Allegro ma non troppo, Scherzo in Allegro vivace, Adagio expressivo and Allegro molto vivace.This is a symphony which Schumann wrote after a serious nervous breakdown and his second movement was often seen as his tribute to his mentor Mendelssohn and the symphony documents his initial despair, his struggle and then his final victory over his fate.

The second concert in the series was something wholly different. It's all about his very intimate chamber music, played for us by the leaders of the different string sections of the HKPO like Jing Wang, its concert master and first violin, Fan Ting, its principal second violin, Andrew Ling, its principal viola and Richard Bamping, it principal Cello and a guest pianist Zhang Haochen. . They played for us Schumann's String Quartet No. 1 in A minor , Op 41 its Introduzione in Andante espressivo then Allegro, Scherzo in Presto followed by Intermezzo, its 3rd movement in Adagio and the final in Presto. Again it took the players some time before they really got into the music and were anticipating, responding, complementing instead of playing against each other. But the second half of the concert was simply marvellous when they played the very popular Schumann's Piano Quintet in E Flat major, Op 44 its first movement in Allegro brillante, its second in modo d'una marcia ( un poco largamente-agitato), Scherzo in molto vivace and its final movement in Allegro ma non troppo. In this piece, they truly played as a group, dialoguing, taking their turns, supporting, playing in parallel, in echo, in variation and complementing each other. It was sheer joy listening to them.

 

My final concert last night started with Schumann's Symphony No.3  the first movement in  lebhaft ( vivace) , the second Scherzo in Sehr mässig,  the third Nicht schnell , the fourth , Feierlich and the final movement again in lebhaft. This time the conductor  was the very enthusiastic Johannes Wildner from Austria. He seemed to have the ability to transform and inspire the HKPO to do its best. Under his magic wand, the sound of the orchestra could be whispering, marching, wistful, heroic, roaring and poetic at the same time. It was wonderful to hear the symphony.

The second piece of the evening was Schumann's most lyrical piano concerto in A minor Op 54 in Allegro affetuoso, its intermezzo in andante grazioso and its final movement in Allegro Vivace. Our soloist was the amazing Zhang Haochen again. This young man not only has nimble and yet powerful fingers, he has a wonderful sense of music. Thus we can enjoy both the passion and the poesy of the piece. His dialogue with the orchestra was impeccable. A great deal of credit must surely go to Wildner too, who guided the orchestra through the soft passages and lead them gently to the more powerful passages like a breeze. It was sheer joy to listen to the piece.

The concert ended with Schumann's Symphony No. 4 in D Minor op 120 its first movement in Ziemlich langsam, then lebhaft, its second in Ziemlich langsam, its third Scherzo in Lebhaft and its final movement again Langsam but lebhaft. This is a symphony with both solemn hymn-like passages and soft flowing lyrical passages, with both love, passion and devotion. We're told that when he wrote this music, he was much influenced by the impressive architecture and the magnificent choir music of the Cathedral of Cologne and that in that symphony, he wanted especially to depict his beloved wife Clara with some of the vivacious and lyrical themes to be carried by the wind instruments. It's a wonderful experience to listen to the climaxing final movement of this symphony as the musical exclamation mark to the series of 3 concerts. But in fact, there should have been a fourth part to the series of concert, a lieder recital of some of Schumann's vocal works earlier the same day. But for me, 3 are quite good enough.