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New Release of the Week: 'Davidsbündlertänze, Humoreske & Blumenstück'

The Hyperion label presents the first studio album by the pianist Luca Buratto. The album is named for the three pieces by Robert Schumann that appear on it: “Davidsbündlertänze, Humoreske & Blumenstück.”

Buratto is a respected interpreter of Robert Schumann’s music, having placed third in the International Robert Schumann Competition in 2012. The Schumann pieces Buratto performs on this album were all composed in the late 1830s. All three pieces are closely connected to Robert’s relationship with Clara Wieck and their legal and personal struggle to wed in spite of Clara’s father’s vehement objections.

 

Davidsbündlertänze (Dances of the Guild of David) opens with a quotation from a mazurka that Clara composed, and Robert wrote to her that he had composed the music with many wedding thoughts in mind. The Humoreske was composed during a period in which the two were separated; Robert wrote to Clara, “I have thought of you with a love such as I have never experienced before. The whole week I have been sitting at the piano, composing and writing, laughing and crying all at once.” Blumenstück (Flower Piece) includes a descending five-note melodic motive (to represent the five letters in her name) that Robert frequently used to represent Clara in his music - it also appears in Carnaval and in the Romances, for example.

 

Buratto is the 2015 Honens Prize Laureate, and this award is only given once every three years. Since receiving the award, Buratto has performed at the Marlboro Music Festival and the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival as well as with the London Philharmonic and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

 

Dr. Amanda Sewell is IPR's music director.