Tag Archives: Robert Schumann

Elias String Quartet and Simon Crawford Phillips – Messages Old and New

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Messages old and new – the Elias Quartet give an Emily Howard world premiere, and are then joined by Simon Crawford Phillips for Schumann’s Piano Quintet

elias-quartet

Elias Quartet (Sara Bitlloch, Donald Grant (violins), Martin Saving (viola), Marie Bitlloch (cello), Simon Crawford-Phillips (piano) – Wigmore Hall, London, live on BBC Radio 3, 4 May 2015.

Listening link (opens in a new window):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05qypn8

on the iPlayer until 9 June

Spotify

In case you cannot hear the broadcast, here is a link to a recording of the Schumann (Howard’s pieces is a world premiere so not yet recorded). The Schumann is played here by Sviatoslav Richter and the Borodin String Quartet:

Spotify

What’s the music?

Emily Howard – Afference (2015) (22 minutes)

Schumann – Piano Quintet (1842) (32 minutes)

What about the music?

Emily Howard’s new piece Afference, a substantial work for string quartet, is based on a physiological term to describe the way in which the brain processes our experiences of the world. Howard herself has a degree in maths and computer science, something that might lead an audience to expect a very calculated approach to composing music. This is not entirely the case though, as the biography on Howard’s own website suggests.

Afference appears to be her first work for string quartet, commissioned by the Elias Quartet themselves. It joins a canon of pieces that range from large-scale orchestral works (Axon and a symphony called Magnetite) to smaller scale compositions for clarinet and piano.

Schumann’s Piano Quintet was written in 1842, when he was still giddy with love for wife Clara. She was the dedicatee of this work, but as the BBC Radio 3 announcer Georgia Mann details it was first performed with none other than the composer Felix Mendelssohn at the piano.

Performance verdict

A fine concert, with concentrated playing from the Elias Quartet of what is on two listens an engaging new work for string quartet. Emily Howard writes in a distinctive style that the Elias Quartet understand, and the colours she achieves are consistently interesting and imaginative. It helps to know the program for the piece, as there do indeed seem to be a lot of messages transmitted in 22 minutes. Some of them are very nervy, though ultimately the piece feels of a positive nature.

The Schumann receives an excellent performance, the happiness of the first, third and final movements a joy to behold – while the second movement, if a tiny bit slow in its central section perhaps, is uneasy and in need of consolation this ultimately provides. Simon Crawford-Phillips plays brilliantly, with authority but also ensuring the strings are heard at all times. His nimble finger work in the third movement scherzo is especially impressive.

What should I listen out for?

Emily Howard

1:20 – a busy start with all four instruments playing frenetically then cuts to a section with a very small voice, doing battle with the quartet.

5:55 – the instruments all take a melodic line that uses portamento (sliding from one pitch to another) before a more intimate phrase starts to dominate. At this point the instruments are close together in pitch.

8:09 – a much slower section, with an intense violin pitch that grows into what sounds like a sorrowful lament, while the other three instruments give softly breathed harmonies. This leads on to some feverish activity, Howard’s nervous messages transmitted at great intensity.

13:17 – As the second movement starts there is a large gap between the instruments – violins on high and cello down below. The lack of a key centre brings to mind some of the quartet writing of Schoenberg, though Howard’s writing has more pitch-related implications in the cello’s continual return to its low ‘D’.

16:50 – a striking passage for violin with upwards phrases, in which Howard seems to be reaching for higher plains

18:51 – the instruments stick closer together again, but at 19:53 the violin shoots out a much higher phrase. The harmonies still make the music sound quite uneasy, as if in a state of dread.

22:20 – a piercing line on the violin returns to the pitch of D, before the rest of the quartet finish the piece with a short series of comments.

Schumann

26:23 – the first movement begins with a wonderfully positive outpouring of music from piano and strings together. The theme itself is a surprisingly catchy one

27:35 – a lovely tune makes itself known on the cello, Schumann at his most romantic with the music flowing beautifully onwards. This tune is then picked up with a counter melody from the violin.

32:03 – now in the centre of the development section, the music gets more turbulent, the piano lines swirling around those of the string quartet, but then we switch to a triumphant reprise of the opening music at 32:45.

35:33 – the subdued second movement begins. This is a form of funeral march and it has a halting tune, played by both strings and piano with short notes. This is complemented by a much sweeter episode of music that begins at 37:19, still in the spirit of remembrance but with a positive approach. The sombre first theme returns once again at 38:56.

40:10 – a faster episode begins, led by the piano, the strings with much heavier lines alongside – but still the tune persists from the viola at 41:00, picked up by the violin – and the sweeter theme also makes a reappearance (41:49).

44:16 – the third movement, a Scherzo, begins with fizzing interplay led by the piano. Schumann again finds music of great positivity and energy. At 45:34 a second section begins, in the far-removed key of F sharp major, before the main scherzo returns with just as much irrepressible energy at 46:16. At 46:58 a new section is introduced, again with plenty of energy! The main theme returns at 48:02, carrying through to an emphatic finish at 48:57.

49:04 – the last of the four movements begins, and again the energy levels are up – though here we begin in a minor key that briefly recalls the second movement march. Quickly the music moves to E flat major – the ‘home’ key of the piece. The music then becomes more reserved and secretive.

51:24 – the first theme comes back, though the music is still in a minor key and still feels a long way from ‘home’. Gradually though the music gets greater presence in the ‘home’ key, and by the time we get to 54:16 it is rooted here, and sweeps to a decisive finish by way of a fugue, instigated by the piano at 54:41 and rounding off at 56:28.

Want to hear more?

Following the contrasting nature of the two pieces in this concert, the suggested further listening looks to progress from the Howard with Schoenberg’s String Quartet no.2. This famously has a last movement that sets the text ‘I feel the air from another planet…’, sung by a soprano and said to consciously signal the composer’s move away from writing in a particular key (tonality). Here the words are sung by Susan Narucki, in conjunction with the Schoenberg Quartet.

After the Schumann a rewarding next port of call is the Piano Quintet by Dvořák, his second in the form – and once again played by Sviatoslav Richter and the Borodin Quartet. The playlist can be found on Spotify here:

For more concerts click here

Meta4 play Haydn and Schumann string quartets at Wigmore Hall

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The Finnish quartet Meta4 play Haydn and Schumann string quartets at Wigmore Hall

meta-4

Meta4 (Antti Tikkanen & Minna Pensola (violins), Atte Kilpeläinen (viola) & Tomas Djupsjöbacka (cello)) – Wigmore Hall, live on BBC Radio 3, 6 April 2015.

Listening link (opens in a new window):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05pqzdk

on the iPlayer until 6 May

Spotify

This Spotify link is for those unable to gain access to the broadcast. As Meta4 have not recorded any of this music, two alternatives have been chosen in recordings by the Hagen Quartet:


What’s the music?

Haydn – String Quartet in C major Op.20/2 (1772) (20 mins)

Schumann – String Quartet no.1 (1842) (27 mins)

What about the music?

haydn

Haydn string quartets are so often a feature in an hour-long quartet recital that it is easy to forget just how revolutionary they were at the time of composition. The publication of his six ‘Sun’ quartets in 1772 (so-called because an early edition had the sun on its cover) represented a massive step forward in the history of the form towards what it has become today. One of the best quotes about the string quartet comes from Goethe – who referred to Haydn’s mastery of it as ‘’

Before the ‘Sun’ quartets the violins had almost total dominance in the melody – but the gradual development of viola and cello into melody instruments was well underway, and Haydn ensured that in the second of the six works he gave special attention to the cello from the outset – before bringing all four instruments together as equals. The musical language, too, is expressive, the composer moving to unusual keys and harmonies to present music that is far from simple – as C major often suggests it should be.

Schumann, on the other hand, is not really regarded as a string quartet composer – his primary instruments being the voice and the piano. Yet he contributed three very attractive works to the medium, all written in 1842, a year after his so-called ‘year of song’. This was after an intense period of study of the quartets of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.

Schumann dedicated the three quartets published as Op.41 to Mendelssohn – who loved them.

Performance verdict

These are spirited performances from Meta4. For the Haydn they bring out some of the revolutionary aspects of the writing by using less vibrato, giving a more austere sound when the harmonies get darker. Some of the tuning here is not perfect, but there is never lack of expression.

The Schumann quartet is extremely enjoyable, vigorous in its faster movements but finding the lyricism Schumann invests in his quartet writing especially in the slow movement.

What should I listen out for?

2:36 – the quartet begins with quite a sinewy sound. There is a sense of discovery here, a little similar in mood to the opening shades of Haydn’s ‘Le Matin’ symphony. A rather more austere section begins at 6:49, darker in mood, before the cello takes up the theme once again at 8:22.

10:01 – a louder attack from Meta4, and a more dramatic section of music from Haydn that seems to hark back towards the Baroque in its stormy implications. It is no coincidence that the music has shifted from C major to C minor, and the emotions are troubled. The movement ends, almost with a whimper.

13:05 – now the music is rather sweet, with an attractive line given to the first violin – but again the ‘sturm and drang’

A relatively genial last movement begins, but still doesn’t sound fully sure of itself until the pace picks up finishes at 22:42

Schumann

25:57 – a subdued beginning to the quartet, with careful interplay between the instruments. After this slow introduction the music speeds up and gets to the heart of its argument.

35:30 – a restless second movement with what is nonetheless quite a catchy tune when heard several times! A contrasting ‘trio’ section begins at 37:03, which has more graceful contours but still sounds a bit on edge with its chromatic nature.

39:53 – a rising line from the cello signals the beginning of the slow movement, with this material used as the basis

46:59 – a brisk last movement begun with three ‘snap’ chords before the music becomes more rustic and outdoors. Rushes to what looks like a false ending at 51:32, but then an extraordinary passage of play starts where the four instruments sound like bagpipes.

Encore

55:06 – the encore chosen by Meta4 is a ‘local’ one – Jusslin by the contemporary Finnish composer Timo Alakotila (5 mins)

Want to hear more?

After hearing one of the Haydn ‘Sun’ quartets, the other five are also strongly recommended. You can hear the Hagen Quartet playing them on Spotify here.

Similarly the other two Schumann quartets of the Op.41 set are recommended, together with the Piano Quintet (for piano and string quartet) written soon after. The Hagen Quartet are once again in action, playing the First String Quartet and Piano Quintet here (pianist Paul Gulda), and quartets nos. 2 & 3 here

For more concerts click here

Zhang Zuo – Schumann and Schubert at Wigmore Hall

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Zhang Zuo plays contrasting piano works by Schumann and Schubert at the Wigmore Hall

zhang-zuo
Zhang Zuo (piano) – Wigmore Hall, live on BBC Radio 3, 30 March 2015.

Listening link (opens in a new window):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05nsbm7

on the iPlayer until 29 April

Spotify

Zhang Zuo has not recorded either of these works, so this Spotify playlist – for those unable to hear the radio broadcast – includes the Schumann played by Daniel Barenboim and the Schubert by Romanian pianist Radu Lupu.

What’s the music?

Schumann – Faschingsschwank aus Wien, Op.26 (Carnival pranks in Vienna) (1839) (19 minutes)

Schubert – Piano Sonata in C minor D958 (1828) (28 minutes)

What about the music?

Both Schumann and Schubert could proclaim the piano to be their first discipline, and both wrote masterfully for the instrument. These two pieces form a nice contrast in concert, for we hear Schumann at his most exuberant, in the throes of a love affair that was soon to culminate in marriage and the so-called ‘Year of Song’. Written in a brief stay in Vienna, the mischievous ‘carnival pranks’ include a quotation of the ‘Marseillaise’ in the first of the five pieces. This was especially daring as the French national anthem was banned in the Austrian capital at that time.

Schubert, on the other hand, was in the last year of his life and in the knowledge that death was increasingly to hand. His late trio of piano sonatas are remarkable works, reaching an intensity of emotion and accomplishment you can barely comprehend for a composer only just in his thirties. The C minor, the first sonata of the three, is perhaps the most tortured, and is complemented by two even bigger works in the form of the A major and B flat major sonatas, each weighing in around the 40 minute mark.

Yet all three are compelling works in the right performances, for Schubert finds ways of making the music reflect the depths of his thoughts, vividly so in the sudden lightning bolts of anxiety that strike at unexpected points. Time stands still in the slow music, while in faster passages there are almost not enough notes for Schubert to describe his thinking.

Performance verdict

Zhang Zuo – Zee Zee – is a brilliant pianist, of that there is no doubt. Technically assured and very clear in her communication of the notes, she made the music fairly rush out of the Steinway like an endless stream. Yet there were times in this recital where I longed for the music to have a bit more breathing space, because she showed in the slower moments that she has a tender side to her playing.

In some of the Schubert the sonata came across as rather brash. It must be difficult for a pianist in her early twenties to fully probe music written by a composer who knew he was dying. And although at times Zuo communicated some of the anguish Schubert must have been experiencing, the fast music was brittle and at times simply too fast. The finale was certainly thrilling but it raced away, pausing only occasionally for breath.

The Schumann was fun – especially the first of the six pieces – and there were some nice, intimate asides such as the second piece, which felt like a confidential letter between loved ones. But here too the music cut to the bone a little too quickly, especially in the closing piece. It isn’t entirely fair to compare Zuo, a pianist at the start of her career, with the old masters Lupu and Barenboim, who you can hear on the Spotify playlist above, but it is instructive to learn that Lupu spends nearly two minutes longer on the Schubert than Zuo.

I don’t want to be unduly critical – there was an awful lot to admire here after all – but I longed for a bit more light and shade from a pianist who clearly has the technical ability.

What should I listen out for?

Schumann

1:04 – We hear Schumann at his most exuberant as the carnival pranks get underway. This piece takes up half the duration of the collection, returning to its catchy main theme with great gusto each time, but also wandering off into distracted thoughts. The most enjoyable and extravert of these is the march beginning at 5:17 – which ushers in the ‘Marsellaise’ quotation. See if you can spot it!

10:07 – a short and tender romance, in complete contrast to the bluster of the opening piece. A confidential aside in the minor key.

12:36 – the third piece is quicker and flighty, and Schumann surprises his listener by moving to a distant key briefly, before coming back ‘home’.

14:36 – Zee Zee moves straight into the turbulent fourth piece, a torrent of notes that subsides at the end, before almost crashing straight into the fifth…

16:37 – the fifth piece starts with similar vigour and leads to an emphatic conclusion.

Schubert

22:16 – although the first movement is not one of unremitting darkness, the torture of Schubert’s final years is immediately clear to the untrained ear. There is edginess and anxiety here, and you can hear it in Zuo’s right hand right from the off.

There is respite, however, in the form of a second theme that melts under the fingers, especially when Zuo plays it for the second time at 27:10. The music seems set to move into calmer waters but Schubert muddies the textures by introducing a coda with low rumblings in the left hand, bringing the movement to an uncertain close.

30:09 – a soft, thoughtful slow movement with similar contours to the slow movement of Beethoven’s Pathétique sonata. Like Beethoven’s late period, Schubert’s last sonatas are known for their ability to hang suspended in time, but Zuo’s performance is just a bit too quick to capture that consistently – apart from 37:03, where the music reaches new levels of intimacy. A darker strand of music makes itself known at 31:34, and this comes to dominate the louder parts of the movement.

38:21 – an awkward attempt from Schubert to pick up the mood that ultimately ends in darkness. Although a minuet, the main theme does not feel like a piece for dancing – and especially when the stop-start episodes take over. The ‘trio’ section (from 39:31) has a more obvious lilt to its triple time, but is incredibly brief – and the opening returns at 40:40.

41:13 – the last movement, a Tarantelle, begins quickly and urgently, but disruption sets in when Schubert insists on moving to new and distant keys, trying hard it seems to assert some positive music but generally ending up with darker, stormy episodes. An exception to this can be found in a brief excursion to B major for more poetic thoughts at 44:10, while the final two chords – wrapping up at 50:16 – tell of resolution and grit but not release from the darkness.

Encore – J.S. Bach – the Minuet from his Partita for keyboard no.1 in B flat major

51:31 – an attractive, light touch to this encore, nicely detailed. There are two Minuets, the second appearing at 52:17 before the first is repeated at 53:00.

Want to hear more?

The second Schubert sonata has perhaps even more drama, and can be heard on Spotify played by Maurizio Pollini from track 5 of this album

To complement the Schumann, try his set of character pieces Carnaval, which can be heard here, played by Jorge Bolet.

For more concerts click here

Maurizio Pollini plays Schumann and Chopin

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maurizio-pollini
© Cosimo Filippini / DG

Maurizio Pollini at Royal Festival Hall, 18 March 2015.

A solo piano recital at the Royal Festival Hall is always a special event, and if you haven’t tried it yet I thoroughly recommend the experience.

The sense of occasion such an event brings is enhanced as the soloist is hemmed in on all sides by the audience, with some on the stage and in the choir stalls behind – which is where I found myself for my first ever encounter with Maurizio Pollini.

The Italian, now in his seventies, has an illustrious recording and concert-playing career behind him. Two of the composers central to his repertoire are Schumann and Chopin, who formed one half each of this recital.

We heard Schumann first, with the brief but poetic Arabesque. This is a wonderfully romantic piece with a wistful main theme. Pollini was a bit stern with it, leaning more on the two short contrasting sections rather than indulging the main tune.

We moved on to the substantial Kreisleriana, a group of eight fantasy pieces dedicated to Chopin and inspired by the character Kreisler, in the creations of E.T.A. Hoffmann. Here Schumann alternates turbulent minor-key creations with softer, poetic major key ones. In Pollini’s hands the faster numbers threatened to disappear in a whirl of notes, the rhythms occasionally blurred, but there were moments of pure insight in the slower second and fourth pieces especially. The final piece, which to me sounds like a bird flying around in an increasingly irregular circle, was perfectly poised, leaving the audience with a sense of mystery.

For the second half Pollini brought out one of his concert staples, Chopin’s 24 Preludes – written around the same time as Kreisleriana. In just under forty minutes Chopin navigates a piece in each key, cleverly structured so that he effectively follows a ‘circle of fifths’. (In technical terms this means he moves from C major, and its relative key A minor, through G major (and its relative E minor) and so on, until travelling full circle.

This performance felt like one whole piece of 24 sections, brilliantly delivered and suitably dramatic. The centrepiece of the collection, the Raindrop prelude (no.15), epitomised Pollini’s approach by being relatively quick – while the faster preludes became thunderbolts from the blue.

Ending to a hero’s reception, Pollini generously fed us three encores, beginning with the waterfall of notes that is the Etude in C minor, Op.10/12, then moving to the relative calm of the D flat major Nocturne, Op.27/2. Then, as a handsome bonus, we had the Scherzo no.3 in C# minor, with its triumphant, Brahmsian chorale theme. After some nasty words were written about Pollini in the Spectator lately, this was the perfect riposte!

You can hear the music Maurizio Pollini played on a Spotify podcast, available here

Schumann’s week of song

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Schumann’s week of song – Kitty Whately and Joseph Middleton performs songs written after the composer’s marriage to Clara

kitty-whately-joseph-middletonKitty Whately (mezzo-soprano)*, Joseph Middleton (piano) – Wigmore Hall, live on BBC Radio 3, 19 January 2015

Listening link (opens in a new window):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04y9rsg

on the iPlayer until 21 February

Download

You can also download the song cycle Frauenliebe und –leben (A Woman’s Life and Love) from this performance. Just right click on the red heart and select ‘Save link as’

For non-UK listeners, this Spotify playlist is available:

What’s the music?

Schumann – 5 Songs, Op.40

Words: http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/notes/33106-B.pdf

Schumann – 3 Songs, Op.31

Schumann – Frauenliebe und –leben (A Woman’s Life and Love)

Words: http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDJ33103

All were written in 1840, and are settings of the poet Adelbert von Chamisso

What about the music?

Schumann’s ‘year of song’ really was a peak of creativity for the composer in 1840, spurred on entirely by his marriage to the elder woman Clara, against her father’s wishes. The songs heard here were all within a single week, and although they capture the breathlessness of recent marriage, they also have a dark side that is fully revealed at the end with the death of the woman’s husband.

The 5 songs that Schumann published as his Op.40 are essentially two lighter songs on the outer edges and three darker, fraut ones on the inside. The three Op.31 are unpredictable and experimental, while Frauenliebe und –leben, a song cycle with a linked theme, is brighter and beautifully structured, with some shorter songs here.

Performance verdict

Kitty Whately sings these beautifully, with a little in reserve that brings out the intimacy of Schumann’s compositions. She is ideally complemented by Joseph Middleton’s sensitive piano playing.

What should I listen out for?

1:36 – the light and fairly heady first song, seemingly setting the scene for some rapturous insights. And yet…

3:07 …the cycle takes a turn for the darker with its second song, ‘Muttertraum’ (‘A mother’s dream’)

13:04 – ‘The lion’s bride’ – the first of the three songs Op.31. The prowling lion is brought uncannily to life by the left hand of the piano, a figure that dominates this long and rather tragic song

24:08 – the third song of the group of three, ‘Die rote Hanne’ (‘Red Hannah’) – with refrains in five part harmony

31:07 The start of the song cycle. The key note here is low in the piano (31:55), giving a hint of the ultimate darkness to come.

38:25 Den ring on my finger. It sounds here as though Kitty is singing in English, but the German is just very similar. This is however the serene high point of the cycle

43:08 really nice singing here, beautifully controlled

49:12 a turn for the darker, with news of the death – which runs into…

51:07 The beautiful piano-only postlude

Want to hear more?

Schumann’s orchestral music is a wealth of good things, with the Symphony no.2 a great next move.

Glossary

*mezzo-soprano – the range just below soprano, which is the highest range a female singer tends to have. Mezzos are often capable of richer, lower notes and tend not to sing as high.