25 / 68
25
PHILIPPE BIANCONI
Yes, let’s get on to
Carnaval
. It’s a paradoxical work, at once extremely
‘enciphered’ yet at the same time one of the composer’s most accessible
pieces . . .
I like to imagine that Schumann had great fun writing this work, which is indeed
very cryptic, riddled with hidden meanings, but is nowadays one of his most
popular. Its variety of moods and atmospheres within a large-scale structure is
absolutely incredible, andwemove very quickly fromonemood to another –which
initially disconcerted the public.
Carnaval
, subtitled
Scènes mignonnes sur quatre notes
(Little scenes on four notes), is
built on the lettersA-S-C-H: thatwas the name of the native village of Ernestine von
Fricken, a girl Schumann was in love with, and in German those letters correspond
to the notes A, E flat (Es), C and B (H). Schumann invents various combinations of
these notes which generate all but three of the pieces, in a very original conception
of variation form.
Scènes mignonnes sur quatre notes
?When
Carnaval
begins, we don’t
know which notes they are. Not until the end of the eighth piece,
Réplique
, do we
discover the famous ‘Sphinxes’, very long notes at the bottom of the keyboard . . .
What’s your solution do you adopt for these Sphinxes?
I don’t play them. Of course that means the listener is excluded from the secret, but
in my view that’s part of Schumann’s little game – there’s something mysterious
that’s revealed to the performer but not to the audience. I know that a number of
great pianists have decided to play the Sphinxes. For my part, I’m convinced that
they shouldn’t be played; I don’t claim to be right, but in any case that’smy intimate
conviction.