Schumann: The Roots & the Flower: Counterpoint in Bloom Jens E. Christensen

• Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856): Sechs Fugen iiber den Namen Bach, Op. 60:
• 1 Schumann: Sechs Fugen iiber den Namen Bach, Op. 60: Fuge Nr. 1 (Langsam) 06:46
• 2 Schumann: Sechs Fugen iiber den Namen Bach, Op. 60: Fuge Nr. 2 (Lebhaft) 06:42
• 6 Studien in kanonischer Form, Op.56:
• 3 Schumann: 6 Studien in kanonischer Form, Op.56: Studie Nr. 1 C-dur (Nicht zu schnell) 02:29
• 4 Schumann: 6 Studien in kanonischer Form, Op.56: Studie Nr. 2 a-moll (Mit innigem Ausdruck) 06:07
• 5 Schumann: 6 Studien in kanonischer Form, Op.56: Studie Nr. 3 e-dur (Andantino) 03:43
• Sechs Fugen iiber den Namen Bach, Op. 60:
• 6 Schumann: Sechs Fugen iiber den Namen Bach, Op. 60: Fuge Nr. 3 (Mit sanften Stimmen) 05:24
• 7 Schumann: Sechs Fugen iiber den Namen Bach, Op. 60: Fuge Nr. 4 (Mässig, doch nicht zu langsam) 06:49
• 6 Studien in kanonischer Form, Op.56:
• 8 Schumann: 6 Studien in kanonischer Form, Op.56: Studie Nr. 4 as-dur (Innig) 04:53
• 9 Schumann: 6 Studien in kanonischer Form, Op.56: Studie Nr. 5 h-moll (Nicht zu schnell) 03:32
• 10 Schumann: 6 Studien in kanonischer Form, Op.56: Studie Nr. 6 e-dur (Adagio) 04:06
• Sechs Fugen iiber den Namen Bach, Op. 60:
• 11 Schumann: Sechs Fugen iiber den Namen Bach, Op. 60: Fuge Nr. 5 (Lebhaft) 03:23
• 12 Schumann: Sechs Fugen iiber den Namen Bach, Op. 60: Fuge Nr. 6 (Mässig, nach und nach schneller) 09:21
• Total Runtime 01:03:15

Info for Schumann: The Roots & the Flower: Counterpoint in Bloom

These works are not often played and recorded,- and in the hands of the Danish organ legend Jens E. Christsenen, it is difficult to imagine a better performance. The producer is Preben Iwan,- and he captures the amazing sound of the old 1685 organ in Vor Frelsers Church in Copenhagen in a way that you feel you are sitting in the best spot in the church.

Although Robert Schumann’s public role in the Bach revival is less well known than that of Felix Mendelssohn, Bach’s music would play an influential effect throughout his life. Schumann would in turn, arrange and perform many of Bach’s works including adding piano parts to the Solo Violin Sonatas and Cellos Suites and trumpets to the St. John Passion!

In 1843 he and Clara rented a custom made pedalflügel – a dreadnought of an instrument combining a Friedrich Wieck grand piano with a pedal keyboard that enabled Schumann’s to play Bach’s organ music at home.

During one of his periodic bouts of depression, Schumann became gripped by what he called Fugenpassion and shortly thereafter his obsession with Bach would blossom in the Canons and Fugues of Opp. 56 and 58.

The curious name of this album references Carl Nielsen’s advice to fellow composer Ture Rangstrom, namely, to get down to the roots of a piece so that it would truly flower. And so following Nielsen’s advice, acclaimed organist Jens E. Christensen, a master of styles ancient and modern, dug deep to uncover the roots of Schumann’s imagination for this truly extraordinary program, a lovingly cultivated German-Danish, Piano-Organ, Baroque-Romantic hybrid, that will no doubt become a perennial favorite for fans of Schumann’s most florid contrapuntal creations.

Jens E. Christensen, organ

Jens E. Christensen
is since 1989 the organist at our Saviour’s Church in Copenhagen, where he also made his debut in 1976 after studying with Grethe Krogh. New Danish organ music has always stood at the centre of Jens E. Christensen’s repertoire. He has thus premiered more than 80 works by composers such as Per Nørgård, Axel Borup-Jørgensen, Steen Pade, Ib Nørholm, Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen, Peter Brask, Sven Erik Werner, Karsten Fundal and Nicolai Worsaae. Internationally he has made his mark in the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Notre Dame de Paris and in Japan. Jens E. Christensen has also contributed as a writer on music, with articles such as “The Cosmic Dance” from the essay collection “The Music of Per Nørgård” (Scholar Press, 1996) and “Danish Organ Music after 1945” (Musical Denmark Special 2, 1999). For more than 20 years Jens E. Christensen taught at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen. He has received the Danish Critics’ Artist Prize in 1980, Poul and Sylvia Schierbeck’s grant in 2008 and Danish Composers’ Society’s Music Prize in 2009.

Booklet for Schumann: The Roots & the Flower: Counterpoint in Bloom