Chamber Concert

Programme

Robert Schumann
»Fairy Tale Narrations« for clarinet, viola and piano, op. 132

Johannes Brahms
Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann for piano four hands, op. 23

György Kurtág
»Hommage à R. Sch.« for clarinet, viola and piano

Béla Bartók
Sonata for 2 pianos and percussion

Bettina Faiss, Clarinet

Benedict Hames, Viola

Lukas Maria Kuen, Piano

Julian Riem, Piano

Guido Marggrander, Percussion

Raymond Curfs, Timpani

Audio on demand

(Online until April 9, 2023)

INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROGRAMME

Three works on this programme place their focus on Robert Schumann. In his Märchenerzählungen (Fairy tales) he chose a combination of instruments already explored in Mozart’s “Kegelstatt” Trio: clarinet, viola and piano. The dark hue of these instruments led him to adopt a romanticised folk inflection. Johannes Brahms chose the last melody that Schumann committed to paper – his ‘final thought’ – as the theme of ten variations for piano four-hands. And Kurtág adopted the scoring of the Märchenerzählungen in order to breathe new life into Schumann’s imaginary characters with gossamer webs of sound. If the piano evolved in the 19th century into a full-voiced instrument resembling a symphony orchestra, Bartók, in his sonata, went one step further: he placed the pianists on a par with the percussionists, creating a thrilling masterpiece of overwhelming vigour.