The Sublimities of Schumann

[Gary Freedman]

I'm a loner who engages in few activities. Small things are important for me. I can still remember that it was five years ago, during the summer of 2004, that I became acquainted with a collection of four piano pieces by Robert Schumann: the Humoreske in B flat, opus 20. The music is sublime. (I wonder if Aida Epstein is familiar with this music? Aida Epstein teaches piano at the Settlement School, in Philadelphia. Aida Epstein, incidentally, was Patrick Dugan's piano teacher. Patrick is Leonardo Dugan's brother. I worked with their mother, Michelle, at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia in the late 1970s.)

Not a week has gone by in the last five years that I have not listened to the Schumann Humoreske. It is my favorite piece by Schumann. It captures my mood.

If the truth be told I am not suited for the practicalities of life; my mind floats in otherworldly dreams, more preoccupied with the potential of the spirit than with everyday vicissitudes. I love language, books, and music, and the most splendid moments of my uneventful existence have been the few operas I have attended, or the books I have perused in isolation from my fellows. I treasure every detail of the times I have spent in isolation. As I read I imagine every sentence, every page and every chapter as a mirror of my life, my passions and my afflictions. I take refuge in this extravagant, romantic atmosphere whenever I feel weighed down by the vulgarity of life.

The complete Schumann Humoreske can be heard on YouTube at the following links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN_lk1txkQg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwAa0pzUCjg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC6BxeqrHks

[BA]

sorry for my typing i really do know how to spell "most"...lol

[BA]

well I find it interesting that from the very start you identify your decision to not develope mose of your own requirement.

[Gary Freedman]

Peter Dugan, nineteen, began studying piano at the age of five in Philadelphia, PA, where he studied with Aida Epstein and Harvey Wedeen. A Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Scholar, a National AP Scholar, and a National Merit Scholar, Mr. Dugan is currently a freshman at The Juilliard School, where he studies with Matti Raekallio. Mr. Dugan participated in the Perlman Music Program (PMP) during high school summers and returned in 2007 as one of three pianists in PMP’s Chamber Music Workshop, where his coaches included Itzhak Perlman and the Weilersteins. At the Curtis Institute and at the University of Pennsylvania, Peter premiered five contemporary pieces for his brother, composer Leonardo Dugan. Peter has won first prizes at the West Chester University Piano Competition, the Tri-County Concerts Association Competition, and the Warminster Symphony Young Artists’ Competition. He has appeared as a soloist with the Warminster Symphony, the Bryn Athyn Orchestra, and the Philadelphia All-Catholic Orchestra and has played at the Academy of Music, the Kimmel Center, and the WXPN World Café Live. In addition to his solo appearances, Mr. Dugan performs extensively as a chamber musician, jazz pianist, and gospel organist. Recently showcased on NPR’s From the Top with his piano trio, Dugan was praised by The Philadelphia Inquirer as “a little guy with a huge presence, moving artfully at the keyboard…even without the visuals, he can swing.”