Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.A few years ago the BBC Proms showcased a new version of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, in which the six concertos were interspersed with movements by living composers. This kind of tribute is becoming increasingly popular; now here is another.Back in 2013-15, the pianist David Kaplan hit upon a similar idea based on Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze. He wanted to see how contemporary American composers might respond to Schumann’s collection of piano miniatures with their capricious interplay of dreaminess and turbulence.Entitled New Dances of the League of David, this combination lasts around an hour. There is only space for 12 of Schumann’s 18 pieces, but through those are threaded Kaplan’s 16 commissions by composers from Augusta Read Thomas and Timo Andres to Andrew Norman and Caroline Shaw.There are many fine recordings of the Schumann, so this is all about the new music. Some of the composers, such as Andres and Mark Carlson, harmonise afresh while keeping close to Schumann’s emotional world. Others, such as Thomas and Shaw, home in on a rhythm or chord and explore its possibilities.Inevitably, there are hits and misses. It helps when the composers merge into or out of a Schumannesque mood, as Adams and Norman do. Ryan Francis is nicely dreamy. Marcos Balter’s faraway imagination is a bit aimless. Ted Hearne’s plucking strings feel out of place. But the whole point is their diversity; Kaplan champions them all with spirit.★★★★☆‘New Dances of the League of David’ is released by New Focus Recordings
