Quatuor Hanson Surveys Schumann Quartets

Pianist Adam Laloum surrounded by the members of Quatuor Hanson on the cover of the album being discussed (courtesy of PIAS)

This Friday harmonia mundi will release a two-CD album that presents the complete string quartets composed by Robert Schumann. These are performed by Quatuor Hanson, named after first violinist Anton Hanson. The other members are violinist Jules Dussap, Gabrielle Lafait on viola, and  cellist Simon Dechambre. There are only three of those quartets, all collected as Schumann’s Opus 47. In “order of appearance” these are in the respective keys of A minor, F major, and A major. The durations are such that the second of the two CDs also accommodates a performance of the better-known Opus 44 piano quintet in E-flat major, for which pianist Adam Laloum joins Quatuor Hanson. Those in a hurry to acquire this album will be glad to know that Barnes & Noble has created a Web page for placing pre-orders (which qualifies for free shipping)!

Whether Schumann deliberately set out to be a polymath, his undertakings were, as they say, “all over the map.” There is every reason to believe that he only felt he had a right to write about music after he had established his credentials for making it himself. Nevertheless, the results of the “making” were very much a “mixed bag.” His instrument was the piano; and, when one surveys everything that he wrote for solo piano, one finds the best of his achievements in the entire catalog.

Thus, it would not be unfair to say that, in spite of his great admiration for the compositions of Ludwig van Beethoven, the string quartet genre was just not in Schumann’s “comfort zone.” All three of them follow the conventional four-movement format, each with a well-conceived overall plan. Nevertheless, anyone that decides to sit down one afternoon and listen to these two CDs may well breathe a sigh of relief upon encountering the piano quintet (as I did)!

Mind you, I am as interested in Schumann’s efforts as Schumann was in Beethoven’s. Ironically, this was not my “first contact” with Opus 41. Thanks to San Francisco Performances (SFP), the last time I encountered one of those quartets in performance was in October of 2022, when the Danish String Quartet performed the A major quartet; and the Elias String Quartet gave performances of the A minor quartet on two different occasions, the first of which, in March of 2013, was for Jonathan Biss’ Schumann: Under the Influence project.

In that context I was aware of one or two familiar themes while listening to the Quatuor Hanson performances. I could even associate that familiarity with past Schumann encounters! Nevertheless, the music itself never rose to a level of rhetorical intensity that I have experienced so frequently in the solo piano compositions. However, those that have had their fill of familiarity with the quartets of Beethoven (and, for that matter, Béla Bartók) may appreciate an opportunity to listen to something different!