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Description

In the fourth volume of his critically acclaimed Schumann edition, Jimin Oh Havenith explores the works for piano in variations. Three of the pieces recorded here hold a unique place in Schumann's biography: his first published composition, the Variations Abegg, and his last completed work, the Variations on Ghosts, belong to this genre. The twelve Symphonic Studies – chronologically situated at the heart of his piano output from the 1830s, long revered by pianists but equally feared for their formidable technical demands – are also variations on a theme. While the young Schumann, in the Variations Abegg, brings forth a brilliant and virtuosic play of musical letters from the name of an acquaintance from Heidelberg, the Variations on Ghosts unfold as a deeply moving dialogue between the seriously ill composer and his great models, Schubert and Mendelssohn Bartholdy. This extraordinary palette of expression once again offers Jimin Oh-Havenith the opportunity to demonstrate the intensity and originality of his interpretation of Schumann.