This episode of Spoleto Backstage rounds out Geoff Nuttall’s list of top Spoleto Festival chamber performances from the past decade with a 2011 program featuring Franz Schubert’s Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667—better known as the “Trout” Quintet. As Geoff shares with Bradley Fuller in a conversation before the music begins, this sparkling chamber work gets both its nickname and the musical material for its theme-and-variations fourth movement from a catchy lied or art song Schubert wrote two years prior: “Die Forelle” (“The Trout”), op. 32, D. 550. Baritone Tyler Duncan performs this lied just before pianist Pedja Muzijevic joins string players Hsin-Yun Huang, Christopher Costanza, Anthony Manzo, and Geoff himself for the quintet it inspired. The concert opens with Niccolò Paganini’s fiendishly-difficult Moses Fantasy for cello and piano, a work based on an operatic aria by Gioachino Rossini and allegedly shaped by its composer’s prison sentence.
Attending a concert might be off the table right now, but you can relax just where you are as South Carolina Public Radio brings the concert to you with this podcast. Spoleto Backstage offers a curated lineup of phenomenal musical moments from past seasons of Spoleto Festival USA as chosen by violinist and chamber music series artistic director Geoff Nuttall. Geoff joins Bradley Fuller, host and producer of South Carolina Public Radio’s Sonatas & Soundscapes, for insights and fun conversations about how he picked his favorite performances form the past ten years. Geoff and Bradley also hear from some of the fascinating stars of the festival’s chamber music series, learning more about their careers, the music they perform, and a range of amusing behind-the-scenes happenings.
You can subscribe to Spoleto Backstage in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Stitcher.
