Andrew Joyce, Julia Joice, Diedre Irons & Vesa-Matti Leppanen Piano Quartet Photo: Supplied
Vesa-Matti Leppänen (violin), Julia Joyce (viola), Andrew Joyce (cello), Diedre Irons (piano)
Schubert wrote this piece in 1816, at the age of 19 and with only a dozen years left to live. It's the only work he wrote for piano quartet, perhaps finding it a difficult combination to balance. Despite the fact it was composed at the suggestion of a friend who was a cellist, Schubert's solution seems to have been to highlight the piano part, particularly in the Rondo movement.
The work has great charm and joie de vivre with unexpected harmonies which are quintessentially Schubert.
Recorded 7 August 2016, St Andrew's on the Terrace, Wellington by RNZ Concert
A Wellington Chamber Music Trust concert