Works by Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, Frédéric Chopin, Alexander Scriabin, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Karol Szymanowski, Charles T. Griffes, Samuel Barber, Béla Bartók, Paul Hindemith, Heinz Holliger and Frank Martin

Schumann: Fantasiestücke op.12 (selection): Des Abends 3:20; In der Nacht 3:49; Traumes Wirren 2:38
Schumann: Nachtstücke op.23: I Mehr langsam, oft zurückhaltend 4:33; II Markiert und lebhaft 5:08; III Mit großer Lebhaftigkeit 3:18, IV Ad libitum 2:31

Schumann/Liszt: Frühlingsnacht 2:34 (aus Schumanns Liederkreis, op.39)

Franz Liszt: Mephisto-Walzer Nr. 1 11:06; La Notte 10:02

Chopin: 2 Nocturnes op.27: Nr.1 C sharp Minor 5:26; Nr. 2 D flat Major 6:03

Scriabin: Poème-Nocturne op.61 7:20

CD 1 total time 68:43

Debussy: from "Suite bergamasque": III Cair de lune 4:07; from "Estampes": II La soirée dans Grenade 4:00

Ravel: Gaspard de la Nuit: I Ondine 6:13; II Le Gibet 5:55; III Scarbo 9:26

Szymanowski: from "Masques" op.34: Scheherazade 9:42

Griffes: Three Tone-Pictures op.5: I The Lake at Evening 1:56; The Vale of Dreams 3:11; The Night Winds 2:01

Barber: Nocturne (Homage to John Field) op.33 3:20

Bartók: from "Im Freien": IV Klänge der Nacht 5:10

Hindemith: from 1922 - Suite for Piano op.26: III Nachtstück 6:36

Holliger: Elis - 3 Nachtstücke: I Verkündigung des Todes - II Todesangst und Gnade - III Himmelfahrt 5:10

Martin: Clair de lune - Petit Nocturne 1:50

CD 2 total time 69:36

Heidrun Holtmann, Piano

Night. Dark silence – portentous, the surreal can become corporeal, the inconceivable can
happen, at night that which is invisible by the light of day becomes alive, intuitions, dreams
– dark as well as heavenly – become reality.
By means of expanded perceptiveness and imagination we experience larger dimensions
of natural powers than the rational consciousness of daytime allows.
The direct language of music is perhaps the ideal medium to express and make tangible the
special fascination of nocturnal moods and phenomena. Composers of various epochs have
dedicated piano works to this theme, works which ingeniously describe the wide-reaching
scope of the nocturnal realm of imagination:
Tranquility and harmony in atmospheric portraits such as Robert Schumann’s fantasy piece
„Des Abends“ (Of the Evening), Frederic Chopin’s Nocture in D-flat Minor, Debussy’s
„Clair de lune,“ the evocation of natural nocturnal events in Bartók’s „Night’s Music,“ the
cloudy-morbid mood, the vague yearning, languor, melancholy, dissolution in Scriabin’s
late Poeme-Nocturne, op. 61, the romantic-fantastic unleashing of human passion in
Schumann’s fantasy piece „In der Nacht“ (In the Night), the highly dramatic scene of the
Mephisto Waltz no. 1 by Franz Liszt (after Lenau’s Faust).
Schumann must have had a visionary presentiment of the fleeting quickness of human
dream experiences – an insight of modern psychology – in his fantasy piece „Traumes
Wirren“ (Troubled Dream).
For man, mythological figures and creatures in their elusiveness can be just as magically
attractive as eerie. Georg Trakl’s „Elis“ figure – a pure being between dream and death
– inspired Heinz Holliger to a cycle of three piano pieces. Maurice Ravel likewise refers to a
poetic work – Aloysius Bertrand’s poem cycle Gaspard de la Nuit – in his piano composition
of the same name.
Other release with Heidrun Holtmann: First recording of the chamber version of
Beethoven‘s Piano Concertos nos. 3 and 4 (M 56849).