Schumann's Andante and Variations for Horn, Two Cellos, and Two Pianos and Brahms's Trio in E-flat major for Horn, Violin, and Piano, Op. 40"

Two jewels of German Romanticism put the round and sonorous tones of the French horn is in the spotlight. Often associated with orchestral music, the horn also has a rich chamber music repertoire, and this concert easily demonstrates its musical prowess in the intimate and intense dialogues of musical masterpieces by Schumann and Brahms, two leading lights of 19th century Western art music..

Robert Schumann’s rarely performed Andante and Variations features the truly unique instrumentation of two pianos, two cellos, and horn, a combination that creates an unusually dark and warm color, with only the pianists right hands venturing into the upper register.  Brahms’s spectacular Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 40 thrives on the contrasts between the violin and the horn, in particular in the final movement: it explores to the fullest the fusion of high and low tessituras, between brilliant clarity and penetrating warmth.