Piano Quintets presented by Melbourne Symphony Orchestra tickets

“Posterity will think of us as one heart and one soul.”

When Robert Schumann wrote to his soon-to-be bride Clara in 1839, he did not know that a complex marital dynamic would befall their 16-year-partnership. It most certainly began as one of shared admiration and mutual support.

This is a program that reflects that sentiment; works of intimacy that are collaborative and conversational. It’s repertoire that manages to span two centuries and celebrate the unique opportunities of chamber music all at once.

Schumann’s Piano Quintet combines symphonic breadth with delicate familiarity, allowing an atmosphere that is both passionate and stormy at times, and cheerfully exuberant at others. Robert dedicated this piece to Clara, and she performed as the soloist in its first public performance. Here international star pianist Alexandra Dariescu performs with the stellar musicians of the MSO.

Camille Pépin's 2022 piece Pluie, larmes de la Terre ("Rain, tears of the earth") for horn and piano captures the vitality and fragility of the natural world. Composed in response to the pandemic and climate change, the horn acts as the throbbing heartbeat of the earth; the piano evokes raindrops, influenced by the music of Debussy.

Clara Schumann’s Three Romances are tender and poetic, revealing her extraordinary sensitivity as a musician and composer, while Mozart’s Quintet for Piano and Winds balances elegance and wit, allowing each instrument a distinct voice across the three movements.

Here the audience and musicians are invited to act as heart and soul, an experience less of a spectacle and more of poignant shared affection.