Seatavern

JN Hummel: Piano Quintet in E flat min, Op 87 F Schubert: Piano Quintet in A maj (The ‘Trout’), D 667 This concert reunites two beautiful works for the unusual combination of piano, violin, viola, cello and double bass, composed within twenty years of each other by two friends, who both called Vienna their home – Johann Nepomuk Hummel [1778-1837] and Franz Schubert [1797-1828].

Schubert’s celebrated ‘Trout Quintet’ was modelled on the earlier work by Hummel for the same combination of instruments, at the request of the wealthy patron and amateur cellist, Sylvester Paumgartner, who wanted to feature the two works together in one of his soirées. He also specifically requested that one of the movements should take the form of a set of variations on “Die Forelle”, a song that was already popular amongst audiences of the time - although the basic melody may be more familiar to modern-day audiences as the Samsung washing machine tune, indicating the end of the washing cycle!

While the two quintets are in vastly different keys, they have in common a congeniality and effervescence, with virtuoso writing especially for the piano and some of the most gratifying writing for the double bass in a chamber music context. Beau Soleil Piano Quartet: Liza Joubert (piano); Lucia Di Blasio- Scott (violin), Marina Louw (viola), Dane Coetzee (cello)Guest performer: Henrike Kovats (double bass)