Left Coast Chamber Ensemble to honor Schumann at their next concert

The title of the next concert in the twentieth anniversary season of the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble (LCCE) is To Schumann With Love. The program features compositions by Robert Schumann, his wife Clara, their dear friend, Johannes Brahms, and reflections on Schumann’s life and work by the contemporary composer Olli Kortekangas. In addition the relationship between Schumann and his wife will be reflected by the soloists for the evening, the married pair of oboists Andrea Plesnarski and Tom Nugent.

The Schumann composition will be his first violin sonata, his Opus 105, composed during one of his characteristically intense periods of activity between September 12 and 16 in 1851. The first performance was given in March of 1852 by the violinist Ferdinand David (remembered for giving the premiere of Felix Mendelssohn’s E minor violin concerto in 1845) with Clara on the piano. Clara will then be represented as composer with a performance of her Opus 22 set of three romances for piano and violin, composed in 1855 (after Robert had been committed to an insane asylum) and dedicated to Joseph Joachim. LCCE will perform it in an arrangement for piano and oboe. The Brahms offering will also be an arrangement, a reworking of one of his best-known piano solos, the A major intermezzo that is the second of the six short pieces in his Opus 118. The arrangement will be for oboe, English horn, and piano. The contemporary reflections on Robert will both be premieres. Kortekangas’ piece is entitled “Aveux, Hommages à Schumann.” The title captures the spirit of acknowledgement in the music, which is scored for oboe and string quartet.

The evening will begin with the one composition not associated with Schumann. This is the winner of the 2012 LCCE Composition Contest. The winning composer is Ryan Carter; and his piece, “too many arguments in line 17,” is a string quartet. This piece will be receiving its West Coast premiere.

The San Francisco performance of this concert will be held on Monday, March 25, at 8 p.m. in the Recital Hall of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Tickets will be sold at the door for $30 general admission and $15 admission for those under the age of 30. Tickets may be purchased online at a Brown Paper Tickets event page. Also, as an added benefit for the twentieth anniversary season, twenty tickets will be available at $20 for all San Francisco concerts (restricted seating, first-come first-served, on sale at the door one hour before performance).