Program Notes

The Schumann Chamber Series: Year Four

Concert II
Sunday, October 21, 2007 at 4:00 pm

PROGRAM

Allegro, Op. 8                                                     Robert Schumann (1810-1856)

Randall Hodgkinson, piano

Lieder, Op. 51
Sehnsucht
Volksliedchen
Ich wandre nicht
Auf dem Rhein
Liebeslied

Kendra Colton, soprano
Mark McSweeney, baritone
Michael Beattie, piano

Drei Romanzen, Op. 28
Sehr Markiert
Einfach
Sehr Markiert

Leslie Amper, piano

 

Lieder, Op. 40
Märzveilchen
Muttertraum
Der Soldat
Der Spielmann
Verratene Liebe

Kendra Colton, soprano
Mark McSweeney, baritone
Michael Beattie, piano

Kinderball, Op. 130     

Leslie Amper and Randall Hodgkinson
piano, four hands

 

PROGRAM NOTES

Two interesting piano pieces anchor our second concert.  First the sonata movement entitled Allegro was presumably the beginning of a piano sonata never completed.   The Toccata is one of the great virtuoso works of the nineteenth century.  Our man and wife piano team of Robert and Clara Schumann then joined together for the adorable Kinderball, one of the most charming four-hand works ever written.

The Opus 40 poems include one of the most bitter anti-war works that are a  surprising side of the Danish poet, Hans Christian Anderson. Opus 51 is  more varied, ranging from folk-like poetry to the passionate Goethe love lyric that ends the set.

© Craig Smith