Schumann’s Piano Concerto

London, Southbank Centre's Queen Elizabeth Hall

Thursday 22 May 2025, 7pm

Priority open

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Music

SCHUMANN
Konzerstück (Introduction and Allegro appassionato) for Piano and Orchestra
FELIX MENDELSSOHN
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (excerpts)
SCHUMANN
Piano Concerto
Guest Artists

Sir András Schiff fortepiano / director
Supporters

This project is supported by Adrian Frost and Mark & Rosamund Williams

Price

£15 - £64 (Premium £85)

General booking

Tue 22 October 2024, 11:00am

The remarkable Sir András Schiff sprinkles fantasy and magic as he performs the most romantic of piano concertos.

Schumann’s only concerto for his own instrument is inspired by his wife Clara’s supernatural virtuosity. Conjured up alongside is Felix Mendelssohn’s impish music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Robert Schumann embodied the ‘Romantic spirit of its era’. A hand injury in 1830 had cut short Robert’s dream of being a virtuoso pianist. He continued to write music full of ‘joy, torment, and fantasy’. His works encapsulated his life and were a testament to his life-long dedication to his wife Clara, a virtuoso pianist, who became Robert’s musical voice.

Robert’s only Piano Concerto started as a single-movement Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra. The final version we hear today is the result of Clara’s encouragement to ‘try his hand at larger-scale forms’. The concerto is characterised by a thematic unity achieved through the marriage between the piano passages and the orchestra. Showcasing his passion through its intensity and vibrancy, the music contains hidden messages to the audience, conveying an enigmatic sense of inspiration only Clara truly understood.

Felix Mendelssohn transports us to another fantasy world with his incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, inspired by his nostalgic love of Shakespeare. Its perfectly magical opening chords evoke the paranormal suspense of the forest, followed by busy motifs summoning dancing fairies…

Part of Southbank Centre Season 2024/25.

"Don’t take it amiss if I tell you that I’ve been seized by the desire to encourage you to write for orchestra. Your imagination and your spirit are too great for the weak piano."

Clara's letter to Robert on 7 January 1839