With Romanzen, Nicolas Arsenijevic and Françoise Buffet-Arsenijevic continue their exploration of German romantic music around a diptych, that of the Romances opus 94 (oboe and piano) and opus 22 (violin and piano) by Robert and Clara Schumann.
Artistes
Romanzen, the new album by Nicolas Arsenijevic
Although the romance is of French origin and first theorized by Jean-Jacques Rousseau in his Dictionnaire de la Musique (1768) as a “tune to which one sings a short poem of the same name, divided into couplets, the subject of which is usually some love story and often tragic”, its appearance changed during the 19th century, particularly through the German prism.
Indeed, German Romanticism, through the Lied, gives the instrumental romance more subtle, deeper accents, and a richer and more nourished piano part; if they are still miniatures, we perceive in them, condensed, all the great Germanic impulses of this period, nourished by the themes of nature, night, travel, and of course, love.
Saxophonist Nicolas Arsenijievic, new professor at the Paris Conservatoire, and pianist Françoise Buffet-Arsenijevicoffer us here a tender and introspective vision of an emblematic repertoire of 19th century chamber music, reconnecting for a moment with the typically Germanic spirit of Hausmusik, music between intimates, in the living room, son and mother...
Around the Romances, other miniatures, other character pieces, the Fantasiestücke opus 73 (1849) for clarinet and piano by Robert Schumann, further removed from the spirit of the lied and the idea of vocality, more instrumental and therefore necessarily more adventurous…and the virtuoso sonata Undine in E minor opus 167 (1882) for flute and piano by Carl Reinecke, inspired by the eponymous tale by Friedrich de La Motte-Fouqué about the unhappy loves of an undine, a water spirit and archetypal figure of Germanic mythology.
Don't miss the release concert on Thursday, February 6 at 8 p.m. at the Salle Cortot (Paris 17), with guests François Lazarevitch, the Trio Corail, Kosmopolitevitch, and the Morphing Quartet as the opening act!
