SCHUMANN’S PIANO CHAMBER MUSIC/2 Presented by Liszt Academy

Counterpoint – as prescribed. This is how one could sum up in a nutshell the background to works framing the second recital of Schumann’s piano chamber pieces. Both the Six Studies in Canonic Form (1845) and Piano Trio in D minor (1847) reveal Schumann’s contrapuntal fascination, although it was not solely professional motivation that drove the composer to reach for these methods from an earlier age: some researchers believe that in the midst of serious depression, he attempted to regain control through the intensive study of cool and strictly regulated counterpoint techniques. Schumann shows a completely different side with the far lighter tones of 12 Four-Hand Piano Pieces for Small and Large Children (1849): an imaginative father willing to play four-hand with his daughter Maria. Yet even the most wildly imaginative Schumann enthusiast could never come up with something more dramatic than the real backstory to the Violin Concerto in D minor (1853), transcribed for cello and played only in part at this concert. A stern wife, a manuscript left to languish, a seance and Nazi propaganda: these are all part of this exciting story.