A few days ago I had the honour to meet with the wonderful Canadian pianist Angela Hewitt, „Artist of the Year 2006“ (Gramophone Magazine) and “2010 Instrumentalist of the Year” (MIDEM Classical Awards). Her » homepage diary contains an entry from 6. November, 2009: “I was never so happy as when playing an all-Schumann programme and I think that is really true. I adore his music and it gives me the chance to say so much.”

For sure, this revelation is reason enough to interview Ms Hewitt for our Schumann-Forum 2010.

Find out here why Angela Hewitt sometimes enjoys imagining that she is Clara Schumann ... and other things more:

Soon Ms Hewitt will record her second Schumann CD, presumably to be released in 2011. Her first Schumann CD, published in 2007, on which she plays the first Piano Sonata op. 11 and the Humoreske B Flat major op. 20 was rightly highly recognized. Attila Csampai wrote: „Now (at last) that wonderfully sensitive piano poet from Toronto has opened the doors to German romanticism, and has delivered, with two of Schumann’s less popular early works, a perfect document of her pianistic grandeur and highly developed sound sense“.

Especially for the readers of this forum Ms Hewitt signed three copies of this CD. All you need to do is answer the following question to » davidsbuendler@henle.com. The CDs will go to the first three senders who submit the correct answer: Ernst Herttrich, the editor of the Schumann edition, uses a “sole primary source” for the revised edition of the Humoreske op. 20. Please name the source. The answer can be found in the critical commentary to this edition. Should you not (yet) own the printed volume you can make use of the free download option on our homepage where the complete prefaces and commentaries are available to everyone. Good luck!

Of course I asked Ms Hewitt to answer my list of nine questions on Schumann and Chopin. Now, following Kissin, Oppitz and Schiff you can enjoy Angela Hewitt’s interesting answers:
9 Questions

Two weeks ago we presented the first part of an interview with Dr. Ernst Herttrich, the editor of the complete Schumann piano works. In the second and last part of the interview Dr Herttrich especially comments on the peculiarity of pieces handed down in two different versions, both acknowledged by Schumann. In most cases Henle publishes both versions, offering pianists and listeners interesting new aspects. Find out more
here

The new Schumann edition in six volumes which contains all, really ALL of Schumann’s piano works, has caused quite a stir in the world of piano musicians. This was made evident also by the demand for the Schumann edition at the Frankfurt Musikmesse that closed just two weeks ago end of March. Dr. Norbert Gertsch, our head of publishing and main person responsible for the timely completion of this giant-size project, is proud of his colleagues in the editing department, production and sales. I invited him to explain why we think that the new Schumann edition surpasses not only the former editions published by Henle, but all other editions available on the world market. We recorded our conversation for the „Schumann-Forum 2010“.

You can listen to our conversation (in German language)

or read the written summary which is available in German and English. I wrote this précis because I believe that the information Dr. Gertsch gives is of special importance to musicians.
Summary

Last but not least, here is another YouTube-Link to an outstanding Schumann recording. I have noticed by the many reactions I get that our readers seem to especially enjoy these links. Today I would like to point you to a live recording of the technically and musically challenging Humoreske op. 20. Currently only very few are posted on YouTube, among them one of Sviatoslav Richter that is in my opinion particularly worth listening to. But I would also like to introduce to this forum a Schumann pianist of the younger generation. Should you have half an hour’s time then please do not miss Piotr Anderszewski (born 1969).

You will hear from me again on 1. May (when I will concentrate exclusively on “The Prophet Bird”). Until then I wish you much enjoyment reading and watching these clips:

Piotr Anderszewski, Live-recording December 2007 in Warsaw:
Robert Schumann, Humoreske in B major op. 20

[Videos no longer available].

Schumann Forum at a glance