Friedrich Nietzsche: Klavierwerke
Michael Krücker, piano
New Classical Adventure 60189
Yes, that Friedrich Nietzsche. The author of Also sprach Zarathustra and Jenseits von Gut und Böse was also an enthusiastic pianist and composer. Nietzsche’s music started to trickle out into public performance in the 1980s; in the 90s, pianist John Bell Young headed up a couple of albums’ worth for the Newport Classics label. Now Michael Krücker brings Nietzsche up-to-date with this SACD, surround-sound release.
Nietzsche’s compositions are fascinating in their evocation of raw talent. He was largely self-taught; the music lacks the conservatory niceties of form and development. In other words, Nietzsche meanders, even in his shortest pieces. But he never seems lost for an interesting idea, and his flair for aphoristic juxtaposition in the vein of Schumann, or Chopin, or, indeed, Nietzschean prose, carries him a long way. Krücker, making as much phrase as he can, coaxing a good amount of warmth out of a bright Yamaha grand, mixes more finished essays (the “symphonische Dichtung” “Ermanarich,” the 20-minute solo piano version of the much-tinkered-with “Hymnus an die Freundschaft”) with miniatures, sketches, and fragments; the effect is of eavesdropping on Nietzsche’s improvising, a more compelling experience than trying to make a case for Nietzsche as a fully-formed composer. It’s not unlike the rewards of the opium-addled but still brilliant Coleridge’s late criticism: Better the ramblings of genius than the polish of mediocrity.
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