Erzählungen und Märchen

Stories and fairy-tales
A new recording of piano pieces by Robert Schumann; why does Schumann, after nearly two Centuries (Novelletten and Kinderszenen were composed in 1838), still speak to us? To my mind, Schumann is a composer with whom it is natural to empathize. He possesses the rare ability to penetrate into the depths of the human spirit and to perceive its every psychological facet. Through his music, Schumann bares his soul with unequalled honesty and establishes an intimate dialogue with his listener. With this first album, I wanted to pay homage to a composer that I love almost unreasonably.

The reasons for accompanying what is probably Schumann’s most popular work, Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood), with the magnificent and rarely performed cycle of Novelletten are several. The two works were composed in the same months of 1838 and the pieces that came together to form Kinderszenen were originally conceived as part of the same project as Novelletten. Schumann wrote in his diary that he composed a polonaise for the Novelletten (n.5) and Glückes genug during the same couple of days. The intimate middle section of the same Novellette n.5 (bars 88-111) was at first intended as a piece for the Kinderszenen. Moreover, in a letter to the publisher Breitkopf&Härtel (21 March 1838) Schumann confesses that his Kinderszenen were originally intended to serve as an appendix (Anhang) to the Novelletten. This might seem odd at first. On the surface these works have many more differences than analogies. They seem light years apart. However, they might have a common poetic inspiration.

Marco Mantovani, born in Mantova (Italy) in 1992, has graduated at the Conservatory of his city under the guidance of Antonio Pulleghini with the highest grades and honors. Afterwards he studied for three years with Andrea Lucchesini at “Scuola di Musica di Fiesole” (Florence, Italy), graduating with honors.

His repertoire ranges from Bach to Contemporary music; in 2017 he performed as soloist the Kammerkonzert ‘Intarsi’ by Klaus Huber (1924-2017) under the direction of Bart Bouckaert in the Concert Hall of the Brussels Conservatory, première of this piece in Brussels. His passion for chamber music drives him to regularly perform with several musicians and he is founding member of “Egmont Chamber Music”.

He is Assistant professor of Piano at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel and Piano professor at Conservatoire de Pantin (Paris) as well as PhD researcher at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel and Vrije Universiteit Brussel in the ‘Doctorate in the Arts’.