NEWCASTLE: Brahms & Schumann Piano Quartets

Schumann Piano Quartet in Eb Major, Op. 47 & Brahms Piano Quartet in G Minor, Op. 25 with guest pianist, Randall Hodgkinson.

“The finest performance I have ever heard of this very difficult piece. It was as if he was reading my mind…” Aaron Copland on hearing pianist Randall Hodgkinson performing his Piano Fantasy in Jordan Hall, Boston. While a student at the New England Conservatory Hodgkinson became grand prizewinner of the International American Music Competition sponsored by Carnegie Hall and the Rockefeller Foundation. He has performed with orchestras in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Buffalo, Boston, Cleveland and abroad in Italy and Iceland, and also numerous recital programs spanning the repertoire from J.S. Bach to Donald Martino.  A frequent guest of the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, he also performs the four-hand and two-piano repertoire with his wife, Leslie Amper. Festival appearances include Ravinia, Bargemusic, Chestnut Hill Concerts in Madison Connecticut, Seattle Chamber Music Festival, and Chamber Music Northwest (Portland, OR). Solo recordings on the Ongaku, New World, and Albany labels  have garnered much critical acclaim.  Mr. Hodgkinson is on the faculties of the New England Conservatory of Music and Wellesley College and is a certified Feldenkrais Practitioner™.