SCHUMANN Geistervariationen (Ghost Variations) - Jonathan Biss

In the early hours of February 17th, 1854, Schumann composed a theme in E-flat major; by the 23rd, he had written five variations on it. On the 27th, he made revisions and wrote out a clean copy of the work.
On the 26th, he threw himself into the Rhine.
He survived, obviously. But within days he was moved to an asylum where he spent the last two terrible years of his life. The relationship between Schumann’s creativity and his mental illness is a difficult subject: necessarily and maddeningly speculative at best, voyeuristic and demeaning at worst. The only thing that is clear is that the Variations in E-flat major - often called Geistervariationen, or Ghost Variations - are an astonishingly moving product of a life’s waning edge. Schumann’s inspiration - genius, if you prefer, and in this case, I do - is intact; it is the vitality that has been drained from him. With certain of Schumann’s qualities no longer present, some of his greatest and most distinctive ones - his inwardness, his poetry, his ability to access and express his most private self - are heightened. If you give yourself over to the piece, without judgment for what it is not - brilliant, certainly, or even much interested in its listener - the experience is profound and profoundly unsettling. We do not normally visit these places.
In the period in which Schumann wrote these variations, he believed that angels and demons were playing music for him. This particular theme, he said, came from Schubert - the most angelic of the angels. Schumann must have loved it very much - a reimagined version became the main theme of the equally moving slow movement of his violin concerto. It is Schubert through the lens of Schumann: more fragile, less sure-footed. Often, it lingers, finding a particular note or suspension difficult to let go of; even when it does not, not much happens. It is less an expression of simplicity (of which Schubert was perhaps the supreme master), more an expression of intimacy. Its many upward intervals reach for something that remains unreachable.
The variations, too, have journeys but not destinations, desires but not fulfillments. Often, they are little more than the theme itself - presented in cannon, one voice trailing after another, or encircled by moving notes that try to give the theme a liveliness that is not in its nature. But this paucity of events has the effect of heightening the meaning of everything that does happen. Each altered interval, each suspension makes us hold our breath: we feel that the effort is costing Schumann lifeblood.
Schubert and Schumann are our two greatest poets of solitude; to hear their music is to know what it means to be alone. But the aloneness of Schubert and of Schumann are different things. Schubert’s is the aloneness of a person who never truly shared his life with another person. Schumann, by contrast, did share his life with another person - and what a person! But in spite of this, in spite of his extraordinary bond with Clara Wieck, in spite of her willingness to marry and share her life with him, and in doing so, to make her talent and creativity and ambition subservient to his needs - the needs of his fragile mental state and compositional genius and male ego - he remained alone. Schumann’s aloneness is the aloneness that will not be assuaged. The aloneness of a person who wants to be known, but is terribly frightened of it.
Clara, too, was frightened at the prospect of Schumann being known. Frightened for herself, surely, but also frightened for him. After he dedicated the Geistervariationen to her, she suppressed its publication: she was so afraid that it would reveal his weakness, she could not hear how it revealed his essence. Finally published in 1939, we need not make the same mistake. A window this deep into the soul of a great artist is a rare gift; we should accept it with gratitude, and go with him into the darkness and the light. (Jonathan Biss)
Recorded live at the Victoria Concert Hall, Singapore, on 10 June 2023 at the 29th Singapore International Piano Festival.
Cover: Ian Livesey via rawpixel

[@marcosdeoliveira9278]

Divine interpretation. Very exciting! Bravo, and Thank you very much!

[@ophelias.118]

What a wonderful, nuanced interpretation!

[@tinakafka6113]

Jonathan, I attended your Beethoven Concerto concert in San Diego a few days after the election. I was so moved by your relationship to the music - so much more than a “performance. “ I would so love to hear you again in person, since even the best recording is still a step removed from the almost spiritual experience of being in the room as you play. New York, Los Angeles, San Diego - any concerts planned in those cities anytime soon? I so enjoy your work!

[@washingtonferreirateles9451]

This theme, for me, is one of the most beautiful melodies in the whole of classical music and I think it was quite fitting that he atributed this theme to Schubert who was one of, if not, the greatest melodist in the history of classical music

[@washingtonferreirateles9451]

The theme for these variations is the same theme from the 2nd mov of his violin concerto, which he had already composed a few months before these variations. Aparently he forgot that he himself had composed and already used this theme and claimed that it was sung to him by angels (schubert in particular) Now, just imagine one thing: Chloe Chua playing Schumann's Violin Concerto. That would be a recording for the ages