Jörg Widmann
Friday, March 6, 2026
Concert Hall, Helsinki Music Centre, Mannerheimintie 13 A, 00100 Helsinki, Finland
The words remain Heine’s, the music is still Schumann’s, his sixteen settings that form Dichterliebe (Opus 48), with the accompanying piano replaced by an ensemble of pairs of violins, violas and cellos, with a single bass, a woodwind quartet (bassoonist doubling on contra), two horns, one each of trumpet and trombone, accordion, harp, harpsichord, and two percussionists, one on timpani, the other with an array of instruments, one being a large tube that was turned upside-down with a filling trading places end-to-end sounding to perhaps suggest the sands of time, which is how Widmann’s transformation of Dichterliebe begins (on a par overall with Hans Zender’s treatment of Schubert’s Winterreise), sometimes illuminating, at other moments discombobulating. With piano, there’s intimacy, with Widmann’s scoring, which can be circus-raucous, the effect is uncertain if always thought-provoking. What was magnetic was Michael Nagy’s singing (the vocal soloist not required to do anything beyond that ordained by Schumann) offering warmth of tone and deeply involved with text and music.
For close on forty minutes, Widmann’s additions made for fascinating if questionable listening, and he obtained first-class playing from the members of the FRSO, as he did with the fuller-strength orchestra for Schumann’s C-major Second Symphony, pregnant from the off, exhilaratingly quick in the Allegro (repeat observed) that developed into emotional frenzy, the FRSO incisive and unanimous in momentum that was carried into the Scherzo with continued precision although the two Trios might have slowed somewhat for all that they were tempo-related. The blissful slow movement found some respite, spacious and sublime, and then the Finale was once again a high-speed romp, not wholly fulfilled in the coda.
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“He has always admired composer Robert Schumann and often drawn inspiration from his works: Jörg Widmann’s new piece, Schumannliebe (“Love for Schumann”), for voice and ensemble will have its world premiere at the Casa da Música in Porto, Portugal on October 4th, 2023. Baritone Matthias Goerne will perform alongside the Remix Ensemble under the direction of Peter Rundel.
“For his new composition Schumannliebe, Widmann takes the 16 poems by Heinrich Heine, which were originally set to music in Schumann’s famous song cycle Dichterliebe (“A Poet’s Love”). Widmann presents the poems in the same sequence as the original and keeps the vocal part almost unchanged, using the version for medium voice.
“However, the similarities between the two pieces end there. The shift in perspective from Schumann’s own stance to seeing him from a greater vantage point is achieved through various means including instrumentation, harmonic accents, sound incorporation, and advanced playing techniques. Widmann’s approach to Schumann varies, at times drawing closer and at others taking a more distant view of the original.” [Schott]