Dvorak Piano Quartet - Schumann - WoO 32 & E-Flat Major, Op. 47 - Marchenerzahlungen (2022) [Official Digital Download]

Robert Schumann, a versatile, well-educated young artist destined for great things, a man whose music has always amazed with its extent and profundity … and also a person of delicate psyche, which many a time led him to the very border between life and death. He composed the Piano Quartet in C minor, his first piece of this ilk, at the age of 18, and although, notwithstanding his original intention, he would never remake it into a symphony, he still had it on his mind some 20 years later: "I vividly recollect a passage in one of my works (1828), which I thought was romantic, with a spirit different to that of old music that appeared to me as though opening up a new poetic life." The Piano Quartet in E flat major, Op. 47, already attests to Schumann's compositional mastery, with its idiom inspired by Bach and Beethoven yet speaking in a clearly singular language. The 1853 Märchenerzählungen (Fairy Tale Narrations), was one of the composer's last happy creative upswings, written shortly before he attempted suicide by jumping from a bridge into the river Rhine with the aim to put an end to his unbearable mental torment. The Dvořák Piano Quartet's album spans the entire arch of Schumann's work: the beginning, the peak and the end. Just like all his music, it shows how immense beauty is often close to pain and suffering.

Track List:
[14:24] 01. Dvořák Piano Quartet - Piano Quartet in C Minor: No. 1, Allegro molto affettuoso
[04:09] 02. Dvořák Piano Quartet - Piano Quartet in C Minor: No. 2, Minuetto. Presto
[06:48] 03. Dvořák Piano Quartet - Piano Quartet in C Minor: No. 3, Andante
[08:22] 04. Dvořák Piano Quartet - Piano Quartet in C Minor: No. 4, Allegro giusto - Presto
[03:17] 05. Dvořák Piano Quartet - Märchenerzahlungen, Op. 132: No. 1, Lebhaft, nicht zu schnell
[03:03] 06. Dvořák Piano Quartet - Märchenerzahlungen, Op. 132: No. 2, Lebhaft und sehr markiert
[04:07] 07. Dvořák Piano Quartet - Märchenerzahlungen, Op. 132: No. 3, Ruhiges Tempo mit zartem Ausdruck
[04:28] 08. Dvořák Piano Quartet - Märchenerzahlungen, Op. 132: No. 4, Lebhaft, sehr markiert
[09:06] 09. Dvořák Piano Quartet - Piano Quartet in E-Flat Major, Op. 47: No. 1, Sostenuto assai - Allegro ma non troppo
[03:39] 10. Dvořák Piano Quartet - Piano Quartet in E-Flat Major, Op. 47: No. 2, Scherzo. Molto vivace
[07:22] 11. Dvořák Piano Quartet - Piano Quartet in E-Flat Major, Op. 47: No. 3, Andante cantabile
[07:54] 12. Dvořák Piano Quartet - Piano Quartet in E-Flat Major, Op. 47: No. 4, Finale. Vivace