Le Sage - 30 March, 5:00pm
The second recital of French pianist Eric Le Sage listed three classical hits by Robert Schumann: Papillons Op. 2, Kreisleriana Op. 16 and Carnaval Op. 9 completed with Phantasiestüscke Op. 111, that are almost as popular as other three works. Every composition is different, but they speak with common, romantic meta-language: the language that is ruffled, capricious, indefinite and sometimes mysterious. This is the tongue that bears deep literary connotations. Schumann – the herald of purest German Romanticism – perfectly understood and applied the idea of art that goes beyond the borders of genre. He was in constant quest for the unity of all arts. Even if he did not reveal the source of his inspiration, inquiring researchers have solved all of the charades long time ago, and were able to indicate and to describe those sources. Papillons may serve as an example of unrevealed literary model: the set of short movements arose as a result of the composer’s fascination of the novel Flegeljahre by Jean Paul. The title of Op. 16 – one of the best amongst the works of the composer of “Rhenish” – points out to the literary works by E.T.A. Hoffmann. The pure tempo markings of the relevant movements do not reveal the details though. The most obvious programme has Carnaval Op. 9, the less programmatic are three Phantasiestücke Op. 111. It is worth remembering about those differences, as Le Sage’s recital provided us with multidimensional spectrum of relations and interpretations – the pianist set the bar very high for himself.
As if there was no time to loose, Le Sage had entered the stage with resoluteness, bowed casually but with style, sat down at the piano and immediately begun to play, as if every split of second was of utter importance for the atmosphere. Did he like to express his musical ideas as soon as possible, did he want to share his vision and understanding of Schumann’s works without delay? It is a tough question, as Le Sage is an eccentric: his internet site is out of date, his recitals are rare, as if he did not care about the popularity. The rumour has it that Le Sage was pleased and surprised with the attendance at his Warsaw concerts. Maybe he is just a Great Introvert, who feels best during long musical conversations with Robert Schumann carried on by means of playing his music?
Eric Le Sage’s interpretations gave different reading to every of the four cycles – however, all of them were played very fast. Maybe even in a bit strained tempi sometimes, but it is just an impression. Undoubtedly there was a well though-out idea behind those interpretations. Papillons were balancing between reality and unreality, Kreisleriana were wrapped in a shroud of mystery, Phantasiestücke were objective and there were elements of burlesque and absurdity in Carnaval. At least we perceived the expressional differences as such. Going to the level of details, we may observe that Le Sage used extreme contrasts, from the insane tempo of the beginning of Op. 16 to the extremely slow playing in due course. Alas, this had affected the precision of playing (there was deficiency of accuracy in this cycle) but most of all it had affected the atmosphere of the composition. We felt the absence of some mysterious uncertainty, of some unnamed feeling or fear that should predominate in the Kreisleriana. The sixth movement of the cycle was most interesting of all; there were moments of refreshing breath, of deep reflection and consideration. The Carnaval Op. 9 was performed in lively tempi as well, that had reached almost the speed of light in the final March of the “Davidsbündler” against the Philistines. According to the text by Marcin Trzęsiok from the programme book, this march is “unlike any march. Not only is it in triple metre; it accelerates to a tempo that makes remaining on the ground, let alone marching, entirely impossible!”. Eric Le Sage did not allow us to remain on ground, proving that only Philistines would step on it. And in his second encore he had shown that the musical world does not end on Schumann, as he performed in a prepossessing way the Andante cantabile form Sonata in C major KV 330 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart!
Marcin Majchrowski (Polskie Radio)
As if there was no time to loose, Le Sage had entered the stage with resoluteness, bowed casually but with style, sat down at the piano and immediately begun to play, as if every split of second was of utter importance for the atmosphere. Did he like to express his musical ideas as soon as possible, did he want to share his vision and understanding of Schumann’s works without delay? It is a tough question, as Le Sage is an eccentric: his internet site is out of date, his recitals are rare, as if he did not care about the popularity. The rumour has it that Le Sage was pleased and surprised with the attendance at his Warsaw concerts. Maybe he is just a Great Introvert, who feels best during long musical conversations with Robert Schumann carried on by means of playing his music?
Eric Le Sage’s interpretations gave different reading to every of the four cycles – however, all of them were played very fast. Maybe even in a bit strained tempi sometimes, but it is just an impression. Undoubtedly there was a well though-out idea behind those interpretations. Papillons were balancing between reality and unreality, Kreisleriana were wrapped in a shroud of mystery, Phantasiestücke were objective and there were elements of burlesque and absurdity in Carnaval. At least we perceived the expressional differences as such. Going to the level of details, we may observe that Le Sage used extreme contrasts, from the insane tempo of the beginning of Op. 16 to the extremely slow playing in due course. Alas, this had affected the precision of playing (there was deficiency of accuracy in this cycle) but most of all it had affected the atmosphere of the composition. We felt the absence of some mysterious uncertainty, of some unnamed feeling or fear that should predominate in the Kreisleriana. The sixth movement of the cycle was most interesting of all; there were moments of refreshing breath, of deep reflection and consideration. The Carnaval Op. 9 was performed in lively tempi as well, that had reached almost the speed of light in the final March of the “Davidsbündler” against the Philistines. According to the text by Marcin Trzęsiok from the programme book, this march is “unlike any march. Not only is it in triple metre; it accelerates to a tempo that makes remaining on the ground, let alone marching, entirely impossible!”. Eric Le Sage did not allow us to remain on ground, proving that only Philistines would step on it. And in his second encore he had shown that the musical world does not end on Schumann, as he performed in a prepossessing way the Andante cantabile form Sonata in C major KV 330 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart!
Marcin Majchrowski (Polskie Radio)
