Title:: Alexander Lonquich Robert Schumann - Heinz Holliger Pianist Alexander Lonquich delighted many with his first ECM solo recording, the 2005-released Plainte Calme, a recital of Faure, Messiaen and Ravel. Now he returns to territory with which he is most closely associated, the German musical tradition exemplified by Robert Schumann. Playing the first edition of Kreisleriana (1838) and Swiss composer Heinz Holliger's "invocation" of Schumann, Partita (1999), he shows the dark nocturnal side of romanticism in juxtaposition with contemporary composition whose "radicalised romanticism" is inspired by it. Lonquich chose to record the first edition of Kreisleriana rather than the better-known, revised 1849 version because he finds a "special attraction in the fragility of the initial conception". Holliger says "Schumann is the composer who has almost always been at the true centre of my thoughts." His Partita is an imaginative continuation of the Schumann style, a "compositional explosion" bringing the mercurial spirit of Schumann into the modern age. Alexander Lonquich: piano - Robert Schumann: kreisleriana Heinz Holliger: partita Titles   1. Robert Schumann: Kreisleriana op. 16 (First Edition, 1838), I. Au?erst bewegt 2. II. Sehr innig und nicht zu rasch - Intermezzo I. Sehr lebhaft - Erstes Tempo - Intermezzo II. Etwas bewegter - Langsamer (erstes Tempo) 3. III. Sehr aufgeregt - Etwas langsamer - Erstes Tempo 4. IV. Sehr langsam - Bewegter - Erstes Tempo 5. V. Sehr lebhaft 6. VI. Sehr langsam - Etwas bewegter - Erstes Tempo 7. VII. Sehr rasch - Noch schneller - Etwas langsamer 8. VIII. Schnell und spielend 9. Heinz Holliger: Partita (1999), I. Praeludium ("Innere Stimme") 10. II. Fuga 11. III. Barcarola 12. IV. Sphynxen fur Sch. (Intermezzo I) 13. V. Petit "Csardas obstine" 14. VI. Sphynxen fur Sch. (Intermezzo II) 15. VII. Ciacona monoritmica