Podcast No. 72
A Baroque Master and a Romantic Disciple (41.63 MB)
Works for solo flute and piano trio played by flutist Paula Robison and the Claremont Trio.

•Bach: Partita for solo flute in A minor, BWV 1013
•Schumann: Piano Trio No. 3 in G minor, Op. 110


The first piece on today’s program is Bach’s Partita in A minor, made up of four movements that constitute a typical baroque dance suite. Because the work is for solo flute, with no accompanying instrument to provide the harmonic bass figures, Bach had to conjure meter, harmony and counterpoint in one solo melodic instrument. The result is a challenging piece, demanding frequent leaps between registers to create the effect of multiple voices in just one instrument.

Robert Schumann idolized Bach. Throughout his life he collected and studied Bach’s works, especially the Well-Tempered Clavier, which greatly influenced his own keyboard compositions. Even within Schumann’s lush and romantic Piano Trio No. 3, the flowing lines and densely layered voices mask a carefully refined structure, a rigor of form and development that hints at Bach’s central role in Schumann’s musical world.