David Dalle
Thursday January 5th, 2017 with David Dalle
A musical journey starting and ending with reflections on Robert Schumann from his wife Clara and protégé Brahms; classical Afghan music from Homayun Sakhi

Today we will hear a musical journey starting and ending with musical reflections on Robert Schumann from his wife Clara and young protégé Brahms. They both composed variations on the the same theme by Robert a year apart, but composed under drastically different circumstances in the family life of the Schumann's. Clara composed her set in 1853 as a birthday present for Robert, Brahms composed his set a year later in 1854 and after Robert's mental breakdown, suicide attempt and confinement to an asylum. The Brahms' variations are much darker and elegaic in tone with a completely broken down, skeletal ending. We hear the Brahms in a new beautifully sensitive recording from pianist Maria Pikoula. In an elegaic frame of mind, we will also hear a stunning recording of Afghan classical music from Homayun Sakhi. He is a master on the Rubab of the Afghan-inflected Hindusthani classical music brought to Afghanistan from India in the 19th century. He lived in Peshawar from 1992-2001 and has since lives in California. This and many other Afghan musics have almost vanished in Afghanistan after decades of war and political fanaticism.