Schumann: Quartet in E-flat major for Piano, Violin, Viola, and Cello, Op. 47

SOMETHING TO KNOW:

Schumann tended to focus on one genre at a time, and he wrote his Piano Quartet in 1842, the year he concentrated on chamber music.

SOMETHING TO LISTEN FOR:

The piece uses scordatura tuning: at the end of the third movement, the cello plays an extra-low B-flat by tuning the lowest string down a step mid-movement.

Recorded live in Alice Tully Hall on March 3, 2015.
Video produced by Ibis Productions.