Jean-Claude Henriot ROBERT SCHUMANN Kreisleriana, Op. 16 - Nachtstücke, Op. 23 - Geistervariationen, WoO 24

It is not without reason that the most recent album of French pianist Jean-Claude Henriot is dedicated entirely to Schumann’s music. The artist considers him to be the first composer who explored the musical areas discovered by Beethoven. Through precise and sensitive interpretation of works by both composers, the pianist devotes himself to the search of a beautiful sound as reflection of speech and its transcending qualities. The pieces presented on the album vary in terms of style, form and atmosphere. Kreisleriana, Op. 16, composed on the basis of contrasts and written under the influence of meetings with Chopin, refers to the literary output of E.T.A. Hoffmann and constitutes an opposite to both dark, ordered according to a completely different principle Nachtstücke, Op. 23 (Schumann wrote, “While composing, I kept seeing funeral processions, coffins, unhappy, despairing people. While I was composing I was often so overcome that tears came forth...”) and Geistervariationen from the last year of composing, which in turn are characterized with simplicity, calm and reflectiveness.