Schumann with style

Press, 14 July 1980, Page 13

Schumann with style

By HEATH LEES The Piano Quintet, which Schumann wrote in 1842, is his main claim to fame in the field of chamber music. His earlier dalliance with the string-quartet medium had proved reasonably successful, but Schumann missed the inspiration of his beloved piano textures, and he seized on the medium of the quintet with obvious relish.

The opening plunge of the whole ensemble is like a joyous reunion, and in spite of the sombre second movement, the prevailing mood is one of sheer delight. Yet it is a mature work, with a sense of proportion and purpose. Indeed, the finale is one of Schumann’s most ingenious contrapuntal exercises and yet it works effortlessly; running, as Tovey said of Bach, as though on velvet.

The Camerata Quartet, with the pianist, lola Shelley, have had this piece in their repertoire for some time now, and thev performed it last Thursday at a Centre Gallery' lunchtime concert, to a sizeable audience. The gallery itself is ideal for chamber music of this nature, intimate yet spacious.

In the first movement of this work, the individual relationships are firmly established and the balances of contrast are set for the whole piece. The transformation of the plangent opening into a lyrical, soaring. Romantic sigh is Schumann at his best, and indeed yesterday it showed the performers at their best too; they were aware of the refinement of the style and effortlessly projected it. The development of the first movement is virtuallv a chamber version of a piano concerto, and lola Shelley was outstandingly successful in the constant crossover role of the leader and the led, though her contribution was hampered by a lack of body in the bass strings of the piano. The second movement was well-conceived — sombre rather than sad, wistful but not dirge-like, in spite of the slow, march-like atmosphere which can sometimes trap the unwary into a leaden, funeral mood.

The latter two movements betrayed a tendency to work always to the middle of the note, sometimes at the expense of a satisfying, impactive attack, and while this made the lyrical sections sing beautifully, it occasionally took the propulsive edge off the faster sections. But this was a mature and committed performance. lola Shelley and the Camerata Quartet showed a real understanding of the sense of balance, the rise and fall, the light and shade which is at the core of this quintet and which forms, in fact, the quintessential Schumann.