Once Upon a Time…

Seigla’s opening recital brings its audience on a journey through the music of György Kurtág, Robert Schumann, and Jörg Widmann.

Here, we explore the fantasies of the Romantic era as well as an intriguing and unusual combination of instruments: the viola, clarinet and piano. The program is thematically built around the remarkable Märchenerzählungen by Robert Schumann, enclosed by works it itself inspired, written by two illuminating composers of our time: György Kurtág and Jörg Widmann.

Though the two compositions were inspired by the same piece they are as varied as can be, even though both composers make use of the same instrumentation. Although Widmann more clearly draws inspiration from Schumann’s music, Kurtág seems to give us a commentary or reflection on Schumann’s character and demeanor.

Märchenerzählungen Op. 132 (e. Fairy Tale Narrations) is Schumann’s penultimate chamber piece. It, as well as its premiere, is corresponding to the turbulent events that plagued the lives of Robert and Clara Schumann in their final months in Düsseldorf. Schumann was throughout his life enraptured by literature and fairy tales, the latter half of his career showing so clearly how heavily inspired he was by this fascination.

Birkir Örn Hafsteinsson

Clarinetist

Fidel Atli Quintero Gasparsson

Violist

Herdís Ágústa Linnet

Pianist