Display of eloquence by Quartet

THE KETTERING PIANO QUARTET Beethoven and Schumann Farrall Centre, The Friends’ School, North Hobart September 23

BEETHOVEN’S Piano Quartet in E flat major, Opus 16 was an arrangement of his Quartet for Piano and Winds, keeping the same opus number of that piece originally composed during a 1796 tour incorporating Vienna, Prague, Dresden, Berlin then back to Vienna.

The Quartet is not a straight transcription, with some changes resulting from the shift from winds to strings, especially in the slow movement.

The Kettering Piano Quartet played this Mozart-influenced work with poise and warmth of expression. Their eloquence in the andante cantabile almost banished memories of the version featuring winds.

Schumann’s Piano Quartet in E flat major, Opus 47, in four movements, one of the great chamber music compositions, comes from 1842. For a long time it stood in the shadow of the famous Piano Quintet, Opus 44 of the same year, even though it is very much its equal.

The players — Jennifer Marten-Smith (piano), Emma McGrath (violin), William Newbery (viola) and Brett Rutherford (cello) — were strong and unified in the stormy, brilliantly constructed outer movements, while the scherzo was appropriately light and sprightly.

The gorgeous love song melody of the slow movement inspired an ardent, intense performance.