Schumann's Kreisleriana, Drei Romanzen and Faschingsschwank aus Wien reveal a piano world of fantasy, lyricism and carnival colour.

Etica, estetica. Il sentimento is a deeply personal and introspective recording devoted entirely to the piano works of Robert Schumann, performed by Italian pianist and composer Maria Gabriella Mariani. Released in 2025, the album brings together three cornerstone works--Kreisleriana, Op. 16, Faschingsschwank aus Wien (Carnival of Vienna), Op. 26, and the Three Romances, Op. 28--forming a cohesive artistic statement that explores Schumann not only as a Romantic composer, but as a philosophical and emotional guidepost in Mariani's own musical life.

Unlike Mariani's previous concept-driven recordings, which juxtaposed her own compositions with canonical repertoire, this release represents a complete immersion into Schumann's world. The choice of works is rooted in both biography and aesthetics: Schumann was central to Mariani's formative years as a musician, shaping her understanding of musical imagery, structure, and expressive depth. Her studies at the Lorenzo Perosi Academy, early performances, and mentorship under Aldo Ciccolini are all reflected in her evolving relationship with these pieces, making this recording as much a personal narrative as it is a musical interpretation.

Kreisleriana, perhaps Schumann's most psychologically complex piano cycle, is approached here as both a dramatic and structural achievement. Mariani emphasizes its dual nature--at once impulsive and rigorously constructed--highlighting its shifting emotional states while maintaining a long architectural view. Her interpretation reflects a synesthetic approach to sound, influenced by Ciccolini's teaching, where tonal color, gesture, and narrative imagery converge. The result is a reading that balances Romantic volatility with clarity of form, revealing Schumann not merely as a poetic figure, but as a composer deeply engaged with contrapuntal and Bach-inspired discipline.

Faschingsschwank aus Wien is presented as a more enigmatic and introspective counterpart to Schumann's earlier carnival-inspired works. Rather than treating it as a sequence of character pieces, Mariani interprets it as a quasi-sonata structure, unified by an undercurrent of melancholy that runs beneath its outward brilliance. The interplay between exuberance and introspection is carefully shaped, with particular attention to harmonic pacing and the transformation of thematic material across movements. This approach aligns with Mariani's broader philosophy of moving beyond descriptive labels to uncover the intrinsic musical logic at the heart of each work.

The Three Romances, Op. 28, complete the program with a more intimate and flexible expressive palette. These pieces, studied more recently by the pianist, offer a space for interpretive freedom, ranging from dramatic urgency to lyrical tenderness and kaleidoscopic shifts in mood. Positioned alongside the larger-scale works, they provide both contrast and balance, reinforcing the album's overarching exploration of Schumann's emotional and structural diversity.

Maria Gabriella Mariani's artistic profile--spanning performance, composition, and literary scholarship--deeply informs this recording. A graduate in literature with a thesis on Schumann, and a musician recognized with multiple international awards including Global Music Awards, she approaches this repertoire with a rare combination of intellectual rigor and imaginative sensitivity. Praised by Martha Argerich for her originality and expressive range, Mariani brings to Schumann's music a perspective that is both historically informed and distinctly personal.

Ultimately, Etica, estetica. Il sentimento is conceived as a triptych of ideas--ethics, aesthetics, and feeling--that define Schumann's artistic identity. Rather than a purely analytical or historical presentation, the album offers a lived experience of the music, shaped by memory, study, and ongoing dialogue. It stands as both a tribute to Schumann's enduring influence and a testament to the transformative power of his work in the life of a contemporary artist.

Additional Details

Label: DA VINCI CLASSICS

Genre: Classical

Run Time: 69 mins

Release Date: 09/18/26

UPC: 746160919119