PASSION AND FINITUDE

This evocative programme brings together two of the most significant voices of German Romanticism in a profound dialogue: Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms. The bond between these two composers was far more than merely collegial; it was characterised by deep admiration, artistic encouragement and a fateful friendship.

The first part of the evening is devoted to Robert Schumann. In his ballads, we experience Schumann as a dramatic narrator.

We will then hear the Piano Sonata in G minor, Op. 22. It is regarded as one of Schumann’s most virtuosic works. Even the performance instruction for the first movement – ‘As fast as possible’ – hints at the restless, almost feverish energy that makes Schumann’s piano style so distinctive.

After the interval, the programme turns to Johannes Brahms, for whom Schumann once paved the way by prophesying that he was ‘called upon to express the highest spirit of the age in an ideal manner’. The movements from the Piano Sonata in F minor, Op. 5, reveal the young Brahms: powerful, with an orchestral sound, yet imbued with a deep poetic intimacy in the Andante.

The *Four Serious Songs*, Op. 121, provide a crowning yet contemplative conclusion. This late work, of profound depth, was written in Vienna in the face of death and whilst Brahms was deeply concerned for his seriously ill wife, Clara Schumann. In it, Brahms set to music biblical texts that explore the transience of existence and the all-conquering power of love.