Andante Cantabile

"You know how certain pieces remind you of certain people? Two memories come to mind for the 3rd movement of Schumann’s Piano Quartet, which “Andante Cantabile” is inspired by. First is the favourite song of someone very dear to me and the soundtrack to some of my favourite moments spent together. Second: I still remember the very first time I heard the cello opening live, in Greenville, North Carolina in 2016. At a chamber music reading session with friends later that day, I played back the melody by ear and improvised around it. That was the genesis of this piece. The middle section was inspired by Bill Evan’s version of “Alice in Wonderland”. As Alice says in Lewis Caroll’s book, “When I used to read fairy-tales, I fancied that kind of thing never happened, and now here I am in the middle of one!”"