A Little Lunch Music: Schumann’s Piano Quartet

Written in his “Year of Chamber Music” of 1842, the Piano Quartet in E flat major remains one of Schumann’s sunniest and most popular chamber works.

Characteristic of the chamber music style, each of the four movements are tied together by subtle, yet tantalising, thematic construction. Performed with equal interplay between each instrument, this is highlighted in a manic, dance-like Scherzo movement, and culminates in the expansive climax of the Finale.

Paired with Mahler’s Piano Quartet in A minor –unfinished, yet his only surviving chamber piece – this concert illustrates the emotional highs and lows of the Romantic period.