Schumann, Mood Swings and Madness An evening with Richard Kogan

By Neil Warres, M.D.

[Winter 2003; Vol. 29, No. 2; Pg 4]

When I walked into Kraushaar Auditorium on November 9th to hear Richard Kogan, M.D. lecture on "Schumann, Mood Swings and Madness," I felt only modest interest in the program.

I had read that Dr. Kogan was a good pianist who had played with Cellist Yo-Yo Ma, but I figured that this was hype -- that he had probably played with the cellist for fun while in college, that he was simply a very good amateur pianist, and that his piano performance would be pleasant but not great.

I was wrong. I was totally blown away by Dr. Kogan's pianistic abilities. The man is a genius. During the evening he played two very difficult Schumann pieces, "Fantasy in C" and "Carnival," and he played them flawlessly. He had total technical command. More importantly, he played exquisitely, extremely musically. He is one of the finest pianists I have ever heard. (Obviously, others agree. Besides being a psychiatrist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, he was a first-prize winner in the Chopin Competition of the Kosciuszko Foundation.)

In addition to the musical excellence, his lecture proved to be highly interesting and informative. Dr. Kogan, who spoke without notes and who had a comprehensive knowledge of Schumann's life, was very effectively able to show how Schumann's bipolar disorder – especially his episodic mania - affected his musical composition. He spoke about and performed examples of musical punning conceived by Schumann during episodes of mood elevation, and demonstrated how the music itself conveyed the highs and lows - the sudden changes from ecstasy to despair - that Schumann experienced internally. The music then itself became a teaching experience, becoming the medium through which the listener could glimpse and partially live the manic-depressive experience.

Steve Crawford, the Maryland Psychiatric Society's CME Committee, MPS and the Maryland Foundation for Psychiatry should all be commended for arranging such an evening. Dr. Kogan has apparently also presented lecture/concert presentations about Beethoven and Gershwin. Perhaps he can be persuaded to return to Baltimore to give another presentation and grace us all with another magical evening.