Flinders Quartet: Paavali - Eltham

Melbourne has been lucky to have extraordinary pianist, Paavali Jumppanen, in our musical community as Artistic Director at ANAM. He joins Flinders Quartet in the opening concert program of their 25th anniversary season for not just one piano quintet but two! Graznya Bacewicz was an accomplished pianist and violin virtuoso whose deep knowledge of the instruments as a performer shows itself in her writing. Her piano quintet is evidence of her immaculate skill and mediates between folkloric impulses and the rigour of classical principles, creating a sound world which is constantly delivering moments of unexpected beauty. Shostakovich was so busy performing his popular new piano quintet on tour with his friends of the Beethoven Quartet following its premiere in November 1940 that he hardly had time to compose for six months. Flinders Quartet sets up this wonderful piano feast with Beethoven’s short but powerful Op. 95 F minor quartet “Serioso”, written at a time of personal despair and the only one he named himself.