The Pro Arte Piano Quartet was made up of leading London-based\ninstrumentalists, many of whom also played in the Melos Ensemble of\nLondon. Pianist Lamar Crowson was, and remains, one of the great\nchamber music pianists of all time (and a soloist in his own\nright). Kenneth Sillito led, for several years, the Academy of St.\nMartin in the Fields. Terence Weil was principal cellist of the\nEnglish Chamber Orchestra and, like viola player Cecil Aronowitz, a\nfounding member of the Melos Ensemble. Together they made three\nrecords for L’Oiseau-Lyre, the Decca subsidiary and they are all\nnow issued on Decca Eloquence from Australia.

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If the year 1840 saw Schumann discover his talent for\nsongwriting – more than 130 were composed that year – in 1842 he\nbrought his beloved piano into the world of chamber music writing\nboth, the Piano Quartet and the Piano Quintet that year. ‘They\nseemed to please players and listeners alike, particularly\nMendelssohn’ he said of these works. Though vigorous and songful,\nit is not rugged – a quality which could be attributed to Brahms’s\nPiano Quartet No. 3. Though the last of the three to be published,\nit is conceivable that Brahms began work on it much earlier. Both\npieces continue to be staples in the chamber music repertoire.

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