David Kaplan: New Dances of the League of David

Because it is too long for a subheading and so descriptive of the scheme behind this ingenious piano recital, I will quote the subtitle here: “16 new piano miniatures interwoven with Davidsbündlertänze, op. 6 by Schumann.” Pianist David Kaplan commissioned the new pieces between 2013 and 2015 with the intention of weaving them into a performance of the classic Schumann score. The result is 28 tracks lasting just over an hour. Whether this potpourri of scattered responses benefits Schumann or detracts from him is up to individual listeners. Kaplan’s project fits into the loose genre of “responsive” works that bounce off the standard repertoire in contemporary ways.

Speaking for himself, Kaplan writes, “The fun challenge for me as performer-curator has been to organize these disparate works into a coherent whole, and to decide how much they replace, efface, or complement the original Schumann.” The beginnings of an organized effort came with the commissions, in that each composer, to quote Kaplan again, was asked “to write short works as ‘interruptions or interludes’ to the original Schumann, each focusing on a different movement.” The only other instruction was to identify with one of Schumann’s alter egos, the dreamy, inward-looing Eusebius or his extrovert, adventurous counterpart, Florestan.

What Schumann created is a suite of character pieces rather than dances, strictly speaking. Kaplan doesn’t play the entire score, only 12 of its 18 movements, which are partially performed in order. The modern interludes are presented either singly or in groups of three, three, and five. Likewise, Kaplan’s selected Davidsbündlertänze is delivered in groupings of one, two, or three. All of this is self-evident while listening, but I wanted to offer assurance that this isn’t simply a mechanical scheme of alternating Schumann and new music. What Kaplan has created is more like a mosaic of moving parts.

Short of describing every new piece, which would be fruitless, I’ll take advantage of a few sketches provided in Dan Lippel’s online notes: “Augusta Read Thomas’ Morse Code Fantasy—Homage to Robert Schumann is a snapshot of how two disparate sound worlds might intersect: the pointillistic, utilitarian world of Morse code communication and Schumann’s articulate, pianistic, mischievously playful voice. Caroline Shaw takes Schumann’s brisk block chord texture as a jumping-off point, delivering an infectious and virtuosic miniature that culminates in a poignant chordal finish. Marcos Balter’s haunting *** reharmonizes one of Schumann’s melodies with disembodied, watery arpeggios, as if we are hearing Davidsbündlertanze from inside a large cistern. Caleb Burhans’s pathos-laden Leid mit Mut encapsulates something of Schumann’s elegiac spirit imported into a more contemporary, almost cinematic kind of romanticism.”

The completed mosaic is quite successful as a unified piece as well as an amalgam of two musical worlds, then and now. The composers largely responded in a recognizably Schumannesque way, sometimes adopting his harmonies. No interlude is less than arresting, even when the style is deconstructive and difficult to connect by ear to the source. Crucially, Kaplan is a very good Schumann interpreter, both technically and in his ability to capture the spirit of each movement.

What made Schumann’s work ideal for this modern “palimpsest,” as Kaplan calls it, are several factors. The style of Davidsbündlertänze is the divergent, eclectic way he moves from moment to movement. Amplifying this effect is the illusion he created that various members of the imaginary League of David contributed individual dances, a concept of Kaplan’s that I’ve never encountered before. Schumann himself declared that Clara Wieck was “practically my sole motivation” for writing the piece in the period of frustrated longing before they were married. The main theme is a mazurka of Clara’s, and Schumann wrote to her that he imagined the dances taking place at a Polterabend, a wedding eve party where crockery is broken to bring good luck.

I don’t think categorizing this release as Romantic, neo-Romantic or contemporary really does it justice. Composers are also music lovers with a background in the classics that general listeners also share. Each contribution here is personal, often touching, and sincerely dedicated to Schumann. Any lover of his piano music will be gratified, I think, by how beautifully Kaplan’s project turned out. I began with some skepticism but came away with enthusiastic admiration.

Five stars: a rich amalgam of Schumann and contemporary homages to him

— Huntley Dent, 7.24.2024

New Dances of the League of David review — Schumann gets a contemporary twist
Pianist David Kaplan performs 16 new commissions responding to Schumann’s dreamlike piano miniatures

A few years ago the BBC Proms showcased a new version of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, in which the six concertos were interspersed with movements by living composers. This kind of tribute is becoming increasingly popular; now here is another.

Back in 2013-15, the pianist David Kaplan hit upon a similar idea based on Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze. He wanted to see how contemporary American composers might respond to Schumann’s collection of piano miniatures with their capricious interplay of dreaminess and turbulence. Entitled New Dances of the League of David, this combination lasts around an hour. There is only space for 12 of Schumann’s 18 pieces, but through those are threaded Kaplan’s 16 commissions by composers from Augusta Read Thomas and
Timo Andres to Andrew Norman and Caroline Shaw.

There are many fine recordings of the Schumann, so this is all about the new music. Some of the composers, such as Andres and Mark Carlson, harmonise afresh while keeping close to Schumann’s emotional world. Others, such as Thomas and Shaw, home in on a rhythm or chord and explore its possibilities. Inevitably, there are hits and misses. It helps when the composers merge into or out of a Schumannesque mood, as Adams and Norman do. Ryan Francis is nicely dreamy. Marcos Balter’s faraway imagination is a bit aimless. Ted Hearne’s plucking strings feel out of place. But the whole point is their diversity; Kaplan champions them all with spirit.

Four Stars

— Richard Fairman, 7.31.2024

A chart litters its boxes across the first few pages of the accompanying note to pianist David Kaplan's new album.
The diagram explains how the original elements of Schumann's Davidsbündlertänze fit alongside 15 additional pieces - composed between 2013-15 - by awide range of American composers. Rather than simply alternate works - or create an entirely new cycle in homage - Kaplan has found away to integrate a multiplicity of styles (miraculously all contributors preserved aconnection ot the original Bund). In fact, you don't need to look at the track listings at all to enjoy this musical collection.

It's worth doing so, though, to appreciate hte snapshot of contemporary Americana. Augusta Read Thomas zooms in on Schumann's love of ciphers to create her own musical joke in Morse Code Fantasy, which, as one might expect, stacks staccato notes against ashimmering backdrop. Caroline Shaw also takes a light touch in XVI (mit gutem Humor, un poco lol ma con serioso vibes), with a reimagined dance that's always on the right side of pastiche (rather as she did with Gustave Le Gray, which features material from Chopin's Mazurka No. 4 in A minor). The music sits perfectly alongside the original Schumann No. 16, marked 'Mit gutem Humor'.

Others such as Timo Andres - also an excellent pianist - drills down into the detail of Schumann's harmonic language, experimenting with carefully recast melodies in VII. Saccades. It sits comfortably with, for example, Marcus Balters's more abstract ***, spinning Schumann's material beyond its original form, and neatly woven by the pianist.
Fittingly. Schumann is given a mini bio of the same length as each contemporary composer. Mit gutem humor indeed.

Performance: five stars
Recording: four stars

— Claire Jackson, 8.06.2024

Robert Schumann's Davidsbündlertänze for piano, Op. 6, evoked the name of the composer's partly imaginary music society, the "League of David" or "Davidsbündler" (Tänze means "dances"). That was a literary construction of Schumann's that attempted to promote the values of musical inspiration and depth over virtuosity and showiness. Here, pianist David Kaplan attempts to take up this banner with his New Dances of the League of David, commissioning various composers with the direction to take inspiration from Schumann's original. This recording presents 12 of the original Davidsbündlertänze, interspersed with the new pieces. The ordering is irregular, not a strict alternation, and the new works have various kinds of relationship to Schumann; some works (sample Michael Brown's IV. Ungeduldig) expand a Schumann piece, so to speak, while others focus on a single chord or texture. Kaplan does not foreclose experimental ideas; Ted Hearne's Tänze (with a sense of urgency) includes passages where the performer must use the piano's housing as a percussion instrument. The humor of Caroline Shaw's XVI. (mit gutem Humor, un poco lol ma con serioso vibes) seems apropos. This work is directly paired with the Schumann piece of the same name, while other works are freestanding. There is a freeform feel to the collection, which Kaplan captures nicely in his playing, but the best thing about it is that the Schumann originals are enhanced; something about presenting them this way highlights their boldness. An intriguing entry in the growing body of works that use established repertory as a stimulus to further creativity.

— James Manheim, 8.20.2024