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

A more fascinating and original treatment of Robert Schumann's music than David Kaplan's New Dances of the League of David would be hard to imagine. On this splendid release, the LA-based pianist presents the composer's Davidsbündlertänze but with a twist: having commissioned a decade ago miniatures by American composers that idiosyncratically reply to Schumann's 1830s creation, Kaplan has coupled the new with the old, the result a riveting portrait in twenty-eight parts, thirteen short pieces from the original alongside fifteen reimaginings. Also known as the “League of David” for the fact that the original includes contrasting pieces representative of the musical society Schumann fashioned (including the impetuous force-of-nature Florestan and dreamy introvert Eusebius), the already eclectic work becomes exponentially more so when the new additions are factored into the equation.

Yet while the differences between the parts are sometimes pronounced, one of the recording's most striking aspects is how cohesive and uniform it sounds. While that's explained by the fact that each composer created material in direct response to a particular Schumann setting, their creations so seamlessly blend into the project that New Dances of the League of David, with an exception or two, could pass for a Schumann work full stop. And it's not that the commissioned composers effaced themselves to achieve that result, but that they managed to produce material that expresses who they are whilst also staying true to the poetic originals. Followers of contemporary composition will recognize many of the participants involved, among them Caroline Shaw, Caleb Burhans, Ted Hearne, Han Lash, Gabriel Kahane, Timo Andres, Augusta Read Thomas, and Martin Bresnick.

Kaplan plays with finesse throughout, his technique of course at a level that enables him to meet any technical and interpretative challenge with seeming ease. Currently Assistant Professor and Inaugural Shapiro Family Chair in Piano Performance at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music (where he has taught since 2016 and where the album was recorded in June 2017), Kaplan is a graduate of UCLA and Yale who's performed as a soloist and recitalist worldwide. As distinguished a music scholar as pianist, Kaplan also wrote liner notes that illuminate the work in general and then one part at a time.

He was largely hands-off when it came to directing the interpreters, his primary instructions being that they align themselves with either Eusebius or Florestan and that they create their pieces as “interruptions or interludes” to the original movements. As the pianist notes, some elected to alternate their music with that of Schumann phrase by phrase, whereas others dealt with the original material holistically from a macro view. Some elaborated on fragments, others re-harmonized the composer's melodies. Beyond performance, Kaplan's greater task involved overall arrangement with respect to determining the most effective sequence for the parts. Detailed explanations for why he placed them where he did are included in his notes for those wanting a deeper dive.

Melodic ingenuity is abundant, whether we're talking about the original or the new material. Evoking Florestan dynamism, Schumann originals such as “Mit Humor,” “Wild und lustig,” and “Frisch” are grandiose, playful, and high-spirited. A poetic reverie such as “Balladenmässig. Sehr rasch,” on the other hand, alludes to Eusebius, while “Zart und singend” seems to oscillate between the poles. Two parts by the composer set the scene—the floridity of “Lebhaft” followed by the serenity of “Innig”—before Thomas initiates the set of new miniatures with Morse Code Fantasy – Homage to Robert Schumann, her contribution a jittery combination of code communication gestures and Schumann's trademark mischievousness.

Bresnick's Bundists (Robert, György and me) Etwas ungeduldig pulls Ligeti, one of Bresnick's own teachers, into its spiraling orbit. Testifying to the at times seamless flow engendered by Kaplan's sequencing, Michael Brown's Ungeduldig follows Bresnick's so smoothly one might not even be aware of the change. The same might be said of the sequence late in the recording when the transition from Shaw's piece to Schumann's “Mit gutem Humor” and then Samuel Carl Adams's XVII. (Quietly, from Afar) transpires as subtly.

Marcos Balter's contribution—its title nothing more than three stars—plunges into the cryptic and crepuscular sides of Schumann's world by reharmonizing one of the Davidsbündlertänze melodies. By comparison, Kahane's No. 6 Sehr rasch und in sich hinein is rousing in the extreme, even if a few hushed moments enter into the somewhat percussive design. Speaking of percussive, the piece that's most disruptive to the overall feel is Hearne's Tänze (with a sense of urgency) for its involving “thumping around inside the piano” (Kaplan's words); the pianist himself acknowledges that Hearne's piece was “too disorienting to audiences” when positioned at the beginning of the work and so decided to place it halfway through.

Andres' Saccades presents one of the most tender expressions, while Andrew Norman's Vorspiel is hushed too yet more enigmatic in its coupling of shadowy dissonance and rhythmic buoyancy. Ryan Francis's pretty, Eusebius-associated Reminiscence (Delicate, wandering) is as wistful and lyrical as expected. Elsewhere, Lash's Liebesbrief an Schumann tickles the ear with tiny ascending chromatic flourishes that segue into a skeletal nocturnal statement. Blossoming from the kernel of a micro-motive, Shaw's XVI. (mit gutem Humor, un poco lol ma con serioso vibes) gallops at a brisk space until pausing halfway through for a lovely chorale. In the encore position, the stateliness of Burhans' elegiac Leid mit Mut (Molto Rubato) proves an effective partner to Schumann's entrancing “Einfach.”

In his notes, Kaplan argues that Schumann's collage-style approach might be likened to a mixtape in the way it's characterized by a similar mix-and-match aesthetic. Yet while in format New Dances of the League of David might qualify as a classical mixtape of sorts, its uniformity makes it seem more like an ambitious collaborative project midwifed into being by many like-minded spirits. A remarkable release, by any measure.

— Ron Schepper, 9.24.2024

The idea of contemporary composers writing works in direct response to masterpieces by composers from the past may be old hat, yet that hasn’t stopped pianists from instigating such projects. David Kaplan, for example, commissioned 15 composers to write short works to serve as ‘interruptions or interludes’ that would be interspersed among most of the encompassing Schumann Davidsbündlertänze.

At first I was prepared to write off this project as a gimmick, and to chide Kaplan for ruining the momentum characterising Schumann’s carefully constructed running order so as to suit his conceptual agenda. Yet it’s marvellous to report that the concept totally works. The old/new juxtapositions consistently fascinate. Schumann’s plaintive second-movement Innig easily dovetails into Augusta Read Thomas’s Morse Code Fantasy, where Schumann’s motifs are transformed into telegraphic dots and dashes. In turn, Schumann’s proclamatory No 3, Mit Humor, goes hand in hand with the broken octaves and hushed cluster chords that Martin Bresnick serves up in Bundists. Michael Brown interweaves measures from Schumann’s No 4, Ungeduldig, with music of his own pianistically idiomatic invention.

My friend and former neighbour Marcos Balter used to tell me that he dreaded writing for the piano, yet his contribution makes magical use of pedal effects and register deployment. Gabriel Kahane’s piece swings back and forth between echt Schumann and echt Kahane, followed by Timo Andres offering echt Schumann mixed with convincing faux Messiaen. I’m especially drawn to Michael James Gandolfi’s rapid passagework, although one quickly gets the point of Ted Hearne’s transforming the rhythms of Schumann’s opening piece into prepared-piano rejoinders. But the second of Samuel Carl Adams’s two contributions is a lovely, hauntingly lyrical tone poem in miniature that one ought to be able to perform by itself, out of context.

It’s obvious that Kaplan has devoted much time, care and consideration to honouring each composer’s wishes, including Schumann himself. Indeed, his mastery makes me wonder how he’d play the whole of Davidsbündlertänze straight and uninterrupted …

— Jed Distler, 11.01.2024