Burkard Schliessmann

Life and professional career

Schliessmann was born in Aschaffenburg, Germany. He is also a professional scuba diver and serves as an Ambassador for the "Protecting of Our Ocean Planet" program of the Project AWARE Foundation. The inspiration of the variety of colours of the underwater world he converts into differentiated sounds in his artistic interpretations, a phenomenon called synesthesia. In several segments of an interview with Oliver Fraenzke in The New Listener entitled "Interview: Burkard Schliessmann", Schliessmann describes his experiences of these feelings and impressions.

He also is engaged in the study of philosophy and photography.

Schliessmann performed at Steinway Hall in New York and is an official artist of Steinway & Sons. He has performed as a recitalist, chamber musician and orchestral soloist throughout the world and has participated in music festivals in Europe, among these the Münchner Klaviersommer, the festival “Frankfurt Feste”, the Valldemossa Chopin Festival and the Maurice Ravel Festival in Paris. He received invitations from orchestras like the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, Radio Symphony Orchestra Frankfurt, WDR Radio Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Symphony Orchestra Wuppertal and the New Philharmonic Westfalia, in addition to other orchestras.

He has received honors and awards for his performances and his musical recordings and has been the subject and guest artist on many radio and television programs. His repertoire comprises Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Brahms, Scriabin, the Second Viennese School up to the Avantgarde.

Musical style, interpretation and artistry

"Schliessmanns' approach to the piano, though guided by a piercing intellect, remains essentially intuitive", so a reviewer in the introduction to an interview in High Performance Review HPR, USA.

Schliessmann himself stated in a conversation about the Goldberg Variations with James Reel in 2008,

Intuition is a level of the highest range. In details, I don't have to think or to worry about the realization of my interpretation; no, it's something that spreads out of my artistic all-compassion. [...] This is my deepest artistic conviction for the rightness of an interpretation - interpretation as a summary of something unique and whole, not of a combining of details. Intuition is a level that includes all levels of emotion, intelligence, structure, and architecture. And I'm also confronted with the question of poetry and poesy, something that is so often neglected - especially in Bach.

According to Phil Muse, "Schliessmann is essentially a romantic, and as such he is the last sort of pianist you would expect to just play the notes as written, without comment."

James Harrington argued in American Record Guide in 2010 that "Schliessmann arrives at his own unique interpretations, with reverence for the past (Cortot, Michelangeli, Rubinstein, and Horszowski especially). While each phrase is impeccably shaped, there is an overall thrust to each work that holds everything together. He uses rubato sparingly, and while he embraces the virtuosity in the music, it never overrides other musical content. After a half century of listening to a number of these works, I must say that Schliessmann shed new light on most of them."

Peter J. Rabinowitz described in Fanfare in 2011 Schliessmann "as a fiercely intellectual pianist." He added:

He’s intellectual in two senses. First, he approaches this music with a tremendous store of background knowledge - knowledge about the composers and their works, about their early receptions, about their critical writings, about their literary inspirations, and about the cultural milieu in which they found themselves. Second, he performs the music with a rigorous sense of the ways its details contribute to its form, both in terms of its overall architecture and in terms of its vertical structure. Not that he sounds anything like Pollini, much less Rosen (to mention just two other pianists often tagged as intellectuals); his playing is far lusher and less severe than Pollini's (listen to the gorgeous shifts in color in the Barcarolle), far more flexible than Rosen's. Still, if you're looking for playing with splashy virtuosity, heightened emotionality, and an extroverted interpretive style, you won't find it here.

On playing Bach, Schumann and Chopin

In 2008, Schliessmann said that he played Bach more than any other composer and that he had played the complete organ works at the age of 21 – and this by memory.

As a child and youngster I had been taught by one of the last master-students of the legendary Helmut Walcha, and I completely had been affected by this style of insight into Bach and the internal structures. This method of regarding the independent coherence of all the voices gave me a special comprehension of Bach and his philosophy. Lastly one can say that I have been growing up with Bach, even to this day.

In a segment of an interview with James Reel in Fanfare entitled "Burkard Schliessmann Articulates His Approach to Bach", Schliessmann speaks about the surreal and metaphysical experience of playing the Bach Goldberg Variations. According to Schliessmann, "Bach really cannot be seen, understood, and interpreted from an isolated point. Bach has to be explored as part of something complete, unique, of a universe – an aspect of human realism." This Schliessmann also stated in broadcastings on SWR, WDR and HR.

According to Schliessmann, "Chopin is the crowning and climax of piano-playing. It's something so unique, all-affecting in emotionalism, musical architecture, and structure, that all past giants are present in it: Bach and Mozart. Chopin's elegance is so singular, that again you need much experience to convey his music in the real and original style. The question of rubato is very sensitive: It's nothing arbitrary, but much more something well calculated and well proportioned, something that is integrated in the classical strength of form, which is constructed on the profound knowledge of the polyphonic and contrapuntal structures of Bach and Mozart."

In another interview with Peter J. Rabinowitz in Fanfare entitled "Cannons Camouflaged by Flowers: Burkard Schliessmann Talks about Chopin", Schliessmann stated, "To approach Chopin, you have to separate him stylistically completely from Schumann. Schumann admired Chopin very much and saw him as friend, but Chopin himself had much less interest in and esteem for Schumann. Whereas the young Schumann's creative path led in the opposite direction, from classical forms - however deeply revered, to the freedom of subjective self-expression - this is an absolute deep contrast to Chopin, who found himself favoring a classical form of musical essence. He needs to bring nothing in from outside, the music is nearly absolute."

Instruments

In a segment of an interview in Fanfare entitled "A Philosophy, Not a Profession: The Art of Burkard Schliessmann", Peter J. Rabinowitz wrote that Schliessmann is a connoisseur of the mechanics of the piano and he insists that his concert instruments be in perfect condition. He described that according to Schliessmann the quality of the sound has its source, as well, in the quality of his piano technician, Georges Ammann.

"I don't want to be conceited," Schliessmann said, "absolutely not, but it's a fact that piano and player have to blend into one."

Peter J. Rabinowitz added that for Schliessmann "the interaction between piano and concert hall is also extremely important. He often travels with his own favored instruments (especially if there is a recording or broadcast involved), and he carefully adjusts to any hall in which he plays."

Schliessmann stated: "I need a day to hear the hall and to place the piano at the right position. This maximizes the impact on the audience."

James Inverne wrote in Steinway International Pianos Magazine that "Schliessmann owns two treasured Steinways. They were carefully selected after years of searching." One, Schliessmann said, is a "very orchestral" instrument and is used for large scale works. The other "is very sensitive and sensible, great for chamber music." He added: "The search for the ideal instruments was entirely worth it: My pianos are alive to me and a mirror of me. It was vital to get it right."

About live concerts and studio recordings

According to Peter J. Rabinowitz, the artistic fulfilment of Schliessmann's performances is the communication with his audience. Phil Muse commented: "There is a strong personality behind his performances, one that always has a decided opinion about the music" and the FAZ described his concert appearances as a "mystic fusion".

It's quite an obsession to me to communicate at this moment, at this time, with my audience. I don't only play for them, it's something I want to give back to them. I feel how each listener in the audience is listening to me, and I feel its warmness, for example, and I give it back to the complete audience. I feel the intensity of hearing, of listening. This is like electricity, and this I give back to the audience. It's very stimulating.

Peter J. Rabinowitz explained, "this give and take is so important that, when recording in a studio, he likes to bring a few friends along to serve as an audience."

Schliessmann himself said: "Sometimes, I ask one, two, or more people just to sit in the audience and to listen to me with concentration as I play. It’s stimulating for me, and I try to build up a situation like that in a recital with a live audience. This helps me to play in a way that electrifies people."

The interview in Fanfare entitled "Cannons Camouflaged by Flowers: Burkard Schliessmann Talks about Chopin" concluded with a statement of Schliessmann:

The things that are most important to me [...] are perfectionism and truth. Truth of interpretation, truth of sound, truth of the instrument, truth of the hall, truth lastly of all. This means Artistic Integrity to me. Coming back to my artistic aims in my Chopin: It's a special combination of lyricism, poetry, virtuosity, noblesse, classical strength but also romantic enthusiasm and passion, in bringing out this obscure man Chopin ...

Honours and awards

Discography (selected)

Schliessmann records for Arthaus Musik, MSR-Classics and Bayer. In June 2014 Schliessmann signed a further recording contract with the British label Divine Art for the worldwide releasing of selected piano works and cycles from Johann Sebastian Bach and Frédéric Chopin.

Studio albums

DVDs

Television and radio productions

Schliessmann has appeared in a number of television and radio productions on the European television stations ARD, ZDF, WDR, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Hessischer Rundfunk, ARTE, 3-SAT, EinsFestival, Unitel-Classica, Classical TV and the US channels Classic Arts Showcase, WSMC, WWFM, WUOT and WDPR. These include:

Memberships

Schliessmann is a member (Master Instructor) of the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) and of the Canon Professional Network. He is also a long-term member of the Frankfurter Gesellschaft für Handel, Industrie, Wissenschaft und Kultur and Lions Clubs International.