Program

Robert Schumann: Piano Quartet in E-Flat Major, Op.47 (1842)
1. Sostenuto assai – Allegro ma non troppo
2. Scherzo: Molto vivace – Trio I – Trio II
3. Andante cantabile
4. Finale: Vivace

Andrew Norman: Companion Guide to Rome (2010)
1. Teresa
2. Benedetto
3. Susanna
4. Pietro
5. Ivo
6. Clemente
7. Lorenzo
8. Cecilia
9. Sabina

PERFORMERS

Violin: Helena Rathbone
Cello: Chris Pidcock
Piano: Lee Dionne

Listening Guide

Robert Schumann, pianist, father, chess enthusiast and extraordinary composer, was extremely productive in 1842. Over the year at his desk in Leipzig, he wrote three string quartets, a piano quintet, a piano trio, a mixed chamber work and his spirited Piano Quartet in Eb Major, Op. 47. A ‘creative double’ to his preceding Piano Quintet, the Quartet is an intimate yet luminous work, its slow movement featuring one of the most sublime melodies written for cello, straight from Schumann’s heart to ours.

Schumann's companion is the 2012 Pulitzer Prize-finalist work, The Companion Guide to Rome, by American composer Andrew Norman. Spanning nine musical portraits, the work draws listeners inside a world of high-ceilinged Roman cathedrals, where light filters through stained glass and legends of the saints come alive. In the final, climactic movement, we experience "Sabina" as a sunrise through the glass, echoing the finale of the Schumann.