45. Aspects of Shostakovich
| 1. | Introduction | 00:00:43 |
| 2. | Shostakovich: Spanish Songs for Voice and Piano, Op. 100 | 00:19:15 |
| 3. | Shostakovich: Quintet in G minor for Piano, Two Violins, Viola, and Cello, Op. 57 | 00:38:31 |
| 4. | Closing | 00:00:30 |
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Wu Qian
Gilbert Kalish
The Schumann Quartett
Winner of a 2016 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award, as well as classical music’s bright young star award for 2007 by The Independent, pianist Wu Qian has maintained a busy international career for over a decade. She has appeared as soloist in many international venues including the Wigmore, Royal Festival, and Bridgewater halls in the UK, City Hall in Hong Kong, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. As a soloist she has appeared with the Konzerthaus Orchester in Berlin, the Brussels Philharmonic, the London Mozart Players, I Virtuosi Italiani, the European Union Chamber Orchestra, and the Munich Symphoniker. She won first prize in the Trio di Trieste Duo Competition and the Kommerzbank Piano Trio competition in Frankfurt, and has received numerous other awards. Appearances this season include performances in the UK, Germany, USA, Korea, Australia, Spain, and The Netherlands and collaborations with Alexander Sitkovetsky, Leticia Moreno, Cho-Liang Lin, Clive Greensmith, and Wu Han. Her debut recording of Schumann, Liszt, and Alexander Prior was met with universal critical acclaim. She is a founding member of the Sitkovetsky Piano Trio with which, in addition to performing in major concert halls and series around the world, she has released two recordings on the BIS label and also a disc of Brahms and Schubert on the Wigmore Live Label. Wu Qian an alum of The Bowers Program.
The profound influence of pianist Gilbert Kalish as an educator and pianist in myriad performances and recordings has established him as a major figure in American music-making. This season he appears with the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic, performs at the Ojai Music Festival, and holds a residency at the San Francisco Conservatory. In 2006 he was awarded the Peabody Medal by the Peabody Conservatory for his outstanding contributions to music in America. He was the pianist of the Boston Symphony Chamber Players for 30 years, and was a founding member of the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, a group that flourished during the 1960s and 70s in support of new music. He is particularly known for his partnership of many years with mezzo-soprano Jan DeGaetani, as well as for current collaborations with soprano Dawn Upshaw and cellists Timothy Eddy and Joel Krosnik. As an educator and performer he has appeared at the Banff Centre, the Steans Institute at Ravinia, the Marlboro Music Festival, and Music@Menlo; from 1985 to 1997 he served as chairman of the Tanglewood faculty. His discography of some 100 recordings embraces both the classical and contemporary repertories; of special note are those made with Ms. DeGaetani and that of Ives' Concord Sonata. A distinguished professor at SUNY Stony Brook, Mr. Kalish has been an Artist of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 2006.
The Schumann Quartett has been acclaimed as “personal and profound” (BBC Music Magazine) and “one of the most exciting string quartets of the present day” (Fono Forum). Highlights of the 2026–2027 season include appearances in renowned venues such as Wigmore Hall London, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Musikverein Vienna, Bozar Brussels, and the Laeiszhalle Hamburg. The quartet will also perform at the Tsinandali Festival with Lisa Batiashvili, the Cartagena Music Festival in Colombia, and the Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival in Warsaw. Their US tour in fall 2026 includes performances with CMS and at Stude Concert Hall in Houston, Texas, among others. Upcoming collaborators include artists such as Andreas Ottensamer, Kit Armstrong, Anna-Lucia Richter, Sabine Meyer, Katharina Konradi, Sharon Kam, and Alexey Stadler.
The quartet’s third album, Intermezzo (2018), featuring works by Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, and Aribert Reimann—and recorded in collaboration with soprano Anna-Lucia Richter—was praised nationally and internationally, and received the 2019 Opus Klassik Award in the category of Chamber Music Recording. In 2020, the ensemble expanded its discography with Fragment, a powerful exploration of the work of one of the great masters of the string quartet: Franz Schubert. To mark the 100th anniversary of radio broadcasting, the quartet undertook a unique project: in autumn 2023, they released an album entirely dedicated to the music of the year 1923. Created in collaboration with Bayerischer Rundfunk, the much-praised recording features works by Alban Berg, Leoš Janáček, Paul Hindemith, and Aaron Copland.
The three brothers, Mark, Erik and Ken Schumann, have been playing together since early childhood. They are joined by violist Matthew McDowell, who completes the quartet. The quartet’s formative influences include teachers such as Eberhard Feltz and the Alban Berg Quartet, and partners such as Menahem Pressler. From 2016 to 2019, the quartet took part in CMS’s Bowers Program.
Erik Schumann plays a violin by Domenico Montagnana, Venice, c. 1733, generously on loan from a private collection. Ken Schumann plays an Italian violin from the mid-18th century, kindly made available to him privately. Matthew McDowell’s viola was made for him by Frédéric Chaudière in 2025. Mark Schumann plays a cello by Giovanni and Francesco Grancino from 1680, generously loaned to him by Merito String Instruments Trust, Vienna.