Schumann: Kreisleriana & Geistervariationen - Widmann: Elf Humoresken Aaron Pilsan

• Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856): Kreisleriana, Op. 16:
• 1 Schumann: Kreisleriana, Op. 16: No. 1, Äussert bewegt 02:55
• 2 Schumann: Kreisleriana, Op. 16: No. 2, Sehr innig und nicht zu rasch 09:21
• 3 Schumann: Kreisleriana, Op. 16: No. 3, Sehr aufgeregt 04:36
• 4 Schumann: Kreisleriana, Op. 16: No. 4, Sehr langsam 03:28
• 5 Schumann: Kreisleriana, Op. 16: No. 5, Sehr lebhaft 03:02
• 6 Schumann: Kreisleriana, Op. 16: No. 6, Sehr langsam 04:18
• 7 Schumann: Kreisleriana, Op. 16: No. 7, Sehr rasch 02:00
• 8 Schumann: Kreisleriana, Op. 16: No. 8, Schnell und spielend 03:44
• Jörg Widmann (b. 1973): Elf Humoresken:
• 9 Widmann: Elf Humoresken: No. 1, Kinderlied 03:34
• 10 Widmann: Elf Humoresken: No. 2, Fast zu ernst 00:54
• 11 Widmann: Elf Humoresken: No. 3, Anfangs lebhaft 03:04
• 12 Widmann: Elf Humoresken: No. 4, Waldszene 01:03
• 13 Widmann: Elf Humoresken: No. 5, Choral 02:54
• 14 Widmann: Elf Humoresken: No. 6, Warum? 01:25
• 15 Widmann: Elf Humoresken: No. 7, Intermezzo 01:05
• 16 Widmann: Elf Humoresken: No. 8, Zerrinnendes Bild 02:06
• 17 Widmann: Elf Humoresken: No. 9, Glocken 01:09
• 18 Widmann: Elf Humoresken: No. 10, Lied im traume 00:50
• 19 Widmann: Elf Humoresken: No. 11, Mit Humor und Feinsinn 05:39
• Robert Schumann: Theme and Variations in E-Flat Major for Piano, WoO 24 "Geistervariationen":
• 20 Schumann: Theme and Variations in E-Flat Major for Piano, WoO 24 "Geistervariationen": I. Leise, innig 01:44
• 21 Schumann: Theme and Variations in E-Flat Major for Piano, WoO 24 "Geistervariationen": II. Var. I 01:27
• 22 Schumann: Theme and Variations in E-Flat Major for Piano, WoO 24 "Geistervariationen": III. Var. Canonish 01:38
• 23 Schumann: Theme and Variations in E-Flat Major for Piano, WoO 24 "Geistervariationen": IV. Var. Etwas belebter 01:45
• 24 Schumann: Theme and Variations in E-Flat Major for Piano, WoO 24 "Geistervariationen": V. Var. IV 01:44
• 25 Schumann: Theme and Variations in E-Flat Major for Piano, WoO 24 "Geistervariationen": VI. Var. V 03:05
• Total Runtime 01:08:30

Info for Schumann: Kreisleriana & Geistervariationen - Widmann: Elf Humoresken

Schumann composed Kreisleriana in April 1838, at the age of 27: “The youthful thing that I can identify with in Kreisleriana is its spontaneity", writes pianist Aaron Pilsan. "If I had to describe the piece, I would use the German word for crazy, ‘verrückt’, which doesn’t just mean crazy, but also to be disconnected from reality. So, crazy, imaginative and intimate… There is a huge connection between these two German composers, as Jörg Widmann was inspired by Schumann’s music a lot and even his musical language is very similar, even though their styles are obviously very different. The starting point for Widmann’s music is from feelings, from the emotions and sentiments and that is where there is a similarity, but not only there. He even quotes Robert Schumann in his tenth Humoreske, taking a bar directly from Schumann’s Geistervariationen ."

Aaron Pilsan, piano

Aaron Pilsan
is internationally recognized as a future star of the piano world. Selected by the influential German magazine Fono Forum as "Best Young Artist of the Year" in 2011, he was subsequently chosen as a "Rising Star" for the European Concert Hall Organization (ECHO) in 2014 which resulted in invitations to perform in many of Europe's most prestigious concert halls.

Aaron is frequently invited to the leading festivals, including the Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Schubertiade, Schwetzingen Festival, Bregenz Festival, Musikfest Bremen, Klavierfestival Ruhr, Mozartfest Würzburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival and the Kissinger Sommer festival, to name a few. He has graced the stages of Europe's major venues including the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Palais des Beaux Arts Brussels, Boulez Saal Berlin, Vienna Konzerthaus, Philharmonie de Paris and Luxemburg Philharmonie.

An avid chamber music player, Aaron regularly performs with artists including cellist Kian Soltani, Isabelle Faust, Sharon Kam, Szymanowski Quartet and Quartetto di Cremona. Despite being beloved for his interpretations of the classical and early Romantic repertoire, Aaron's musical sensibilities lend themselves very well to contemporary music. He collaborates regularly with composers Jörg Widman and Thomas Larcher and recently performed the world premiere of Persian classical composer Reza Vali's piece for cello and piano at Berlin's Boulez Saal.

Aaron's debut recording on the French label Naive featuring the works of Schubert and Beethoven was highly acclaimed by the international press with Gramophone Magazine calling this recording "refreshing and rewarding" and crediting him for using "his remarkable agility to a purely musical end." In February 2018, Deutsche Grammophon released HOME, a musical tribute to Aaron's hometown in Austria together with long-time duo partner and cellist Kian Soltani featuring the works of Schubert and Schumann.

Born in 1995 in Dornbirn, Austria, Aaron began to play the piano at the age of five. He studied with Karl Heinz Kämmerling at the Mozarteum Salzburg and is currently a protégé of Lars Vogt. Aaron has been supported by the Swiss Foundation "Orpheum," is a scholar of the Mozart Gesellschaft Dortmund, and was awarded the "Förderpreis Deutschlandfunk" in August 2017.

Booklet for Schumann: Kreisleriana & Geistervariationen - Widmann: Elf Humoresken