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It has been more than ten plus some years since I heard the first “live” Schumann’s piano quartet in E flat major, op 47, with my late husband, at a small church on the right bank of the 6th arrondissement in Paris. My husband was born in the 5th arrondissement (left bank) and is a genuine Parisian as Luxembourg Park was his childhood playground. He therefore also knew of the existence of this small church on the right bank where the performance took place.
The piano quartet was performed by young French musicians, and I still remember vividly how impressed I was by these young musicians’ performance and enthusiasms. The third movement, Andante Cantabile, is a particularly beautiful and moving, and is generally a well-played movement.
According to Burton-Hill, Clara Schumann and Robert Schumann had never composed a full-fledged chamber music until June 1842 (except for simple ones that Robert Schumann wrote when he was a teenager). From June to the end of the year of 1842, Robert Schumann had composed three string quartets, one piano quintet, and this piano quartet op 47. The year is thus called the "Year of Chamber Music".
Although it is true to artists in general, Burton-Hill explains that Robert Schumann is "a composer whose character and his life are most apparent and reflective to the music he composed."
Cello: Gautier Capuçon
Viola: Lyda Chen
Piano: Martha Argerich
Violin: Renaud Capuçon
I chose this recording because violinist Renaud Capuçon and his younger brother, cellist Gautier Capuçon, are highly regarded young French musicians. Particularly, violinist, Renaud Capuçon, is considered one of the best France's extant violinists. And the "live" performance which I heard in Paris, was in fact performed by these brothers when they were much younger.
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