Maurizio Baglini - Schumann: Arabeske (2019)

It is a CD that aims straight to the heart with special arrows this "Arabeske", the fourth of the thirteen planned for the full piano by Robert Schumann. In reality, we could say the same thing for everyone so far published, if it were not that here it is legitimate to venture a veiled similarity with the "Concept album", a term coined for a completely different kind, that is the progressive rock of the '70s, it has become one of the major distinguishing features.
As in the previous one, also in this the cover notes are concise but give some very important "inputs" for the understanding of the music and contain an interview directed to Maurizio Baglini, the great Pisan pianist involved in this magnificent adventure. Seven questions are posed by the good Gregorio Moppi, Florentine teacher, journalist and music critic, aimed at the introspection of a complex musical substance where, in the end, the concept of singing emerges, the attempt of the instrument to become a human voice. A precious record, which "overflows with songs sung by the voice of the piano alone", to use the words of the same interpreter. This is his true "leitmotiv", the glue that binds the presented works together. Central to almost all is the female figure: the Fantasiestücke Op. 12 were dedicated to Anna Robena Laidlaw, a young and attractive Scottish pianist who became a friend of Schumann. Mrs Majorin Friederike, Serre auf Maxen, was a devotee of Arabeske Op. 18, as was the writer Bettina Brentano von Arnim of the Gesänge der frühe Op. 133.

The value of an integral is also to bring back to light tracks or performed rarely or even strangers. The present is not an exception, even if "in fieri", which in this fourth stage contains the "Con fuoco" which follows the eighth and final Fantasiestücke of the Op. 12, but never printed, or the fourth Romance that precedes the three Op. 28, reneged by the composer and unpublished until a few years ago. History tormented his, since it was then "recycled" in the central section of the fifth Novelletta Op. 21. "There is no page in this CD that, if you put words, could not be sung", with this sentence the pianist unequivocally clarifies the intent pursued by this new record. The dances open with the collection Fantasiestücke Op. 12, eight pieces written in 1837, that is during that almost decade (from 1830 to 1839) in which the German composer gave the fund much of his creative energy, producing an extraordinary series of masterpieces. In those years they saw, in fact, the light also Papillons Op. 2, Davidsbündlertänze Op. 6, Toccata Op. 7, Carnaval Op. 9, the three Sonatas, Twelve Symphonic Studies (first and second version), Kinderszenen Op. 15, Kreisleriana Op. 16, Arabeske Op. 18, Novelletten Op. 21, Faschingschwank aus Wien Op. 26, Three Romance for Piano Op. 28. As often happens in the German composer, even in these Fantastic Pieces the source of inspiration is exquisitely literary, from the favorite ETA Hoffmann and his collection of stories "Fantasies in the manner of Jacques Callot".

Return to this composition is the concept of "phantasieren", that free daydream of the heart and mind, not obliged in stringent forms, which was so dear to the composer. A wandering that takes shape in the alternation of the two moods impersonated by the figures of Eusebius and Florestanus, the first dreamer and introspective, sanguine and combative the latter. A duality that well represents the personality of the author and is constantly present in his works. Also in these eight Fantasies we are witnessing the succession of the two opposite characters. Over the years, an always inspired Maurizio Baglini has accustomed the listener to an interpretative number of the highest level. In a process of expressive dilatation, in the sudden passage of humor between the pieces, which turn out to be a series of little "shocks", he seems to follow the path of the externation of intensity in no uncertain terms. Extraordinarily scanned in the cantabile and in the most lyrical moments, it is not afraid to encroach on a frank nervousness that leads to the emergence of some edges, rather it seeks them in moments of higher dramatic tension as an instrument suitable to arouse in those who listen to the strong emotions . Difficult, perhaps inappropriate in the economy of a review that does not eventually become an essay, analyzing point by point the preciousness that abound in the reading of Baglini. Just a few small examples, to understand what finesse is capable, as in the opening song "Des Abends", indicated in the score "Sehr innig zu spielen" (to be played in a very intimate way), where the tone is relaxed and cantabile. In the initial refrain, he sensibly diversifies the execution of the second passage, shaping the stolen differently and the graduation of the expressive intensity.

Tracklist:

01. Schumann: 8 Fantasiestücke, Op. 12-1. Des Abends
02. Schumann: 8 Fantasiestücke, Op. 12-2. Aufschwung
03. Schumann: 8 Fantasiestücke, Op. 12-3. Warum?
04. Schumann: 8 Fantasiestücke, Op. 12-4. Grillen
05. Schumann: 8 Fantasiestücke, Op. 12-5. In der Nacht
06. Schumann: 8 Fantasiestücke, Op. 12-6. Fabel
07. Schumann: 8 Fantasiestücke, Op. 12-7. Traumes-Wirren
08. Schumann: 8 Fantasiestücke, Op. 12-8. Ende vom Lied
09. Schumann: 8 Fantasiestücke, Op. 12-Fantasiestück No. 9
10. Schumann: Arabeske in C, Op. 18
11. Schumann: 3 Romanzen, Op.28-No. 1 in B-Flat Minor (Sehr markiert)
12. Schumann: 3 Romanzen, Op.28-No. 2 In F-Sharp (Einfach)
13. Schumann: 3 Romanzen, Op.28-No. 3 in B (Sehr markiert)
14. Schumann: Ahnung WoO 28 (Im Jahr 2009 entdeckt)
15. Schumann: Gesänge der Frühe, Op.133-1. Im ruhigen Tempo
16. Schumann: Gesänge der Frühe, Op.133-2. Belebt, nicht zu rasch
17. Schumann: Gesänge der Frühe, Op.133-3. Lebhaft
18. Schumann: Gesänge der Frühe, Op.133-4. Bewegt
19. Schumann: Gesänge der Frühe, Op.133-5. Im Anfang ruhiges, im Verlauf bewegtes Tempo