Concerts › New Zealand Chamber Soloists (Previous 2022 Season)

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James Tennant (cello), Katherine Austin (piano), Lara Hall (viola) & Dimitri Atanassov (violin) perform Piano Quartets by Mozart & Schumann.

PROGRAMME
Mozart Piano Quartet no 2.
Schumann Piano Quartet in Eb Major

PROGRAMME NOTES
Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-flat Major, K. 493 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1785)

I.Allegro
II.Larghetto
III.Allegretto

Between 1785 and 1786 Mozart wrote his two piano quartets. When he wrote them, Mozart was at the zenith of his fame as a performing concert pianist as well as a confirmed master of chamber music. The quartets are superbly balanced chamber works with all the craft and intimacy that implies, but they are also magnificent showcases for piano.

The E-flat major quartet was commissioned by the publisher Franz Anton Hoffmeister in 1785. The first movement begins with a bright and cheerful opening that sets the character for the entire work. The music throughout features a call and response. The second movement, Larghetto, is a poised but tender song based on the solo piano's opening gestures. It supremely capitalizes the steady, clear piano figurations that run through the dense and more earthy blend of the strings. The finale is a moderately paced rondo demonstrating the great fluidity of Mozart's textures. The string trio enjoys the greatest liberties to pursue its own chamber texture.

Piano Quartet in E flat Major, Op. 47 Robert Schumann (1842)
From the time that Wolfgang and his sister Maria Anna were toured around the cities of Europe at age 6 and 10 by their father Leopold, his prodigious musical talent was never doubted in Europe. Mozart was the first major composer to write for the piano quartet, in its now standard form of string trio and piano. He was at the pinnacle of his success as a pianist and composer around the time that he wrote his two piano quartets in close succession between 1785 and 1786. That did not mean though that his music itself was exempt from criticism. After the first Piano Quartet in G minor, his publisher, Hoffmeister demanded “Write more popularly, or else I can neither print nor pay for anything of yours!" The Eb quartet that followed, written just a month after the first performance of his opera The Marriage of Figaro, is in style reminiscent of one of his other most successful genres - the piano concerto - and has a similar genial warmth to the Eb piano concerto K.482 written in that period.

Schumann personifies Romanticism in his constant striving for the ideal. His great love for Clara Schumann inspired his happiest years and most joyous writing, including the Piano Quartet and Piano Quintet which were written within weeks of each other. He identified strongly and deeply with two sides of his personality that he named ‘Florestan’ (the impetuous energetic extrovert) and Eusebius (the dreaming introvert full of poetic longing). He was in fact torn as a young man between composing and writing. Writers such as Heine, Jean Paul and ETA Hoffman provided lifelong inspiration for him. He was also a true Romantic in his love of Shakespeare. The Romantics were drawn to Shakespeare's ability to capture all the nuances of human feeling and experience with such a breadth of understanding. Schumann was very much committed to the ideal of creative kindred spirits helping to fuel each other through life. He even had a term for his own gathering together of kindred spirits in his life - his Davidsbundler. Group journey and adventure is a central theme which comes through in his music, generating a great sense of fun and energy and making even the most serious drama ultimately less threatening and isolating.
Simeon Broom

GUEST ARTIST
Dimitri Atanassov was born in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1970 and started learning the violin at the age of 6. After studying with Professor Anna Ivanova, Dimitri studied at the Prague Academy of Arts under the guidance of Professor Vaclav Snitil where he excelled as a musician, completing his Master’s degree in 1994. As a chamber musician and also in his former role as Concertmaster of the Auckland Philharmonia orchestra, he has worked and performed with many leading international artists.

Inspired by the works of the old Cremonese masters Guarneri and Stradivari, Dimitri took up violin making in 2002. He also learned violin making and restoration in the USA, France and Italy. His instruments have become popular for their superb quality of sound and playability. In 2013 he opened his workshop in Cremona, Italy, situated on Corso Garibaldi, about 200m away from Casa nuziale di Stradivari.

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New Zealand Chamber Soloists performed at St George & St John Church, on Sunday 6th November at 4:00pm.