120 Greatest Chamber Works!!!

[Dr. Dread]

 

1. Quartet for Strings No. 14 in C sharp minor - Ludwig van Beethoven

2. Quintet for 2 Violins, Viola and 2 Cellos in C major, Op. 163 - Franz Schubert

3. Quintet for Clarinet and Strings in A major - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

4. Quintet for Clarinet and Strings in B minor, Op. 115 - Johannes Brahms

5. String Quartet No. 14 in D minor "Death and the Maiden" - Franz Schubert

6. Piano Quintet in A major "Trout" - Franz Schubert

7. String Quartet No. 13 in B flat major and Grosse Fugue - Ludwig van Beethoven

8. Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34 - Johannes Brahms

9. String Quartet No. 15 in A minor - Ludwig van Beethoven

10. Quintet for 2 Violins, 2 Violas and Cello in G minor, K 516 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

11. Quartet for Strings No. 12 in F major "American" - Antonín Dvorák

12. String Quartet No. 19 in C major "Dissonance" - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

13. Piano Trio No. 7 in B flat major, Op. 97 "Archduke" - Ludwig van Beethoven

14. String Quartet No. 2 in D major "Nocturne" - Alexander Borodin

15. Octet for Strings in E flat major - Felix Mendelssohn

16. String Quartet in C major, Op. 76 No. 3 "Emperor" - Joseph Haydn

17. Piano Quintet in E flat major - Robert Schumann

18. Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25 - Johannes Brahms

19. Piano Trio No. 1 in B flat major - Franz Schubert

20. String Quartet No. 16 in F major - Ludwig van Beethoven

21. Piano Trio No. 2 in E flat major - Franz Schubert

22. String Quartet No. 4 in C major - Béla Bartók

23. Quintet for 2 Violins, 2 Violas and Cello in C major, K 515 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

24. String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110 - Dmitri Shostakovitch

25. String Quartet in B flat major, Op. 76 No. 4 "Sunrise" - Joseph Haydn

26. String Quartet in D minor, Op. 76 No. 2 "Quinten" - Joseph Haydn

27. String Quartet No. 17 in B flat major "Hunt" - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

28. String Quartet No. 9 in C major "Hero" - Ludwig van Beethoven

29. String Quartet No. 8 in E minor - Ludwig van Beethoven

30. String Quartet No. 7 in F major - Ludwig van Beethoven

31. String Quartet in F major - Maurice Ravel

32. Quatuor pour la fin du temps - Olivier Messiaen

33. String Quartet No. 13 in A minor "Rosamunde" - Franz Schubert

34. String Quartet in G minor - Claude Debussy

35. Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano in A minor, Op. 114 - Johannes Brahms

36. Verklärte Nacht for String Sextet, Op. 4 - Arnold Schoenberg

37. String Quartet No. 3 in C sharp major - Béla Bartók

38. String Quartet No. 1 in E minor "From My Life" - Bedrich Smetana

39. Octet for Clarinet, Horn, Bassoon and Strings in F major - Franz Schubert

40. Quintet for 2 Violins, 2 Violas and Cello in D major, K 593 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

41. Piano Trio No. 4 in E minor "Dumky" - Antonín Dvorák

42. Piano Quintet No. 1 in A major, Op. 81 - Antonín Dvorák

43. String Quartet No. 2 "Intimate Letters" - Leos Janácek

44. String Quartet No. 1 "Kreutzer Sonata" - Leos Janácek

45. String Quartet No. 5 in B flat major - Béla Bartók

46. String Quartet No. 12 in E flat major, Op. 127 - Ludwig van Beethoven

47. String Quartet in D major, Op. 76 No. 5 "Largo" - Joseph Haydn

48. Lyric Suite for String Quartet - Alban Berg

49. Quartet for Oboe and Strings in F major - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

50. String Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 51 no. 1 - Johannes Brahms

51. Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor - Felix Mendelssohn

52. String Quartet No. 1 in D major - Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

53. Piano Trio in A minor - Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

54. Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor - Dmitri Shostakovich

55. Introduction and Allegro for Harp, Flute, Clarinet and String Quartet - Maurice Ravel

56. String Quartet No. 6 in D major - Béla Bartók

57. Five Movements for String Quartet - Anton Webern

58. Quintet for Piano and Winds in E flat major - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

59. Piano Quartet No. 2 in A major, Op. 26 - Johannes Brahms

60. Octet for Wind Instruments - Igor Stravinsky

61. String Quartet No. 18 in A major - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

62. String Quartet No. 15 in D minor - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

63. Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor - Gabriel Fauré

64. Divertimento for String Trio in E flat major - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

65. String Quartet in F major, Op. 77 no. 2 - Joseph Haydn

66. Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor - Anton Arensky

67. String Quartet No. 14 in G major - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

68. String Quartet in D major, Op. 20 no. 4 - Joseph Haydn

69. Piano Trio in A minor - Maurice Ravel

70. Italian Serenade in G major - Hugo Wolf

71. String Quartet No. 12 in C minor "Quartettsatz" - Franz Schubert

72. String Quartet No. 2 in A minor - Béla Bartók

73. String Quartet No. 15 in G major - Franz Schubert

74. String Quartet No. 14 in A flat major - Antonin Dvorák

75. Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano in E flat major, Op. 40 - Johannes Brahms

76. Sextet for Piano and Winds - Francis Poulenc

77. String Quartet No. 1 in A minor - Béla Bartók

78. String Trio - Arnold Schoenberg

79. String Quartet No. 2 - Elliott Carter

80. String Quartet in E flat major, Op. 33 No. 2 "The Joke" - Joseph Haydn

81. String Sextet No. 2 in G major "Agathe" - Johannes Brahms

82. Piano Quartet in E flat major - Robert Schumann

83. Trois Pieces Breves for Woodwind Quintet - Jacques Ibert

84. Piano Trio No. 2 in C minor - Felix Mendelssohn

805. Piano Trio No. 3 in C minor, Op. 101 - Johannes Brahms

86. Quintet for 2 Violins, 2 Violas and Cello No. 2 in G major, Op. 111 - Johannes Brahms

87. String Quartet in D major, Op. 64 no. 5 "Lark" - Joseph Haydn

88. Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp - Claude Debussy

89. Piano Quintet - Dmitri Shostakovich

90. Piano Quintet in F minor - Cesar Franck

91. String Quartet No. 3 - Elliott Carter

92. Six Bagatelles for String Quartet - Anton Webern

93. Clarinet Quintet in B flat major - Carl Maria von Weber

94. Piano Trio No. 4 in D major "Ghost" - Ludwig van Beethoven

95. Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor, Op. 60 - Johannes Brahms

96. String Quartet No. 16 in E flat major - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

97. Kleine Kammermusik for Wind Quintet - Paul Hindemith

98. String Quartet No. 3 in B flat major, Op. 67 - Johannes Brahms

99. Woodwind Quintet - Carl Nielsen

100. Quintet for 2 Violins, Viola and 2 Cellos in E major, Op. 13 No. 5 - Luigi Boccherini

101. Keyboard Trio in G major, Op. 73 No. 2 "Gypsy" - Joseph Haydn

102. Septet in E flat major - Ludwig van Beethoven

103. Piano Trio in D minor - Robert Schumann

104. String Quartet No. 10 in E flat major - Antonin Dvorák

105. Quintet for 2 Violins, 2 Violas and Cello No. 1 in F major, Op. 88 - Johannes Brahms

106. Woodwind Quintet in G minor, Op. 56 No.2 - Franz Danzi

107. String Quartet No. 2 - Arnold Schoenberg

108. Piano Trio No. 2 in C major, Op. 87 - Johannes Brahms

109. String Quartet No. 1 in B minor - Sergei Prokofiev

110. String Quartet No. 2 in C major - Benjamin Britten

111. String Quartet No. 11 in F minor "Serioso" - Ludwig van Beethoven

112. String Quartet No. 10 - Dmitri Shostakovich

113. String Quartet No. 3 in D major, Op. 44 No. 1 - Felix Mendelssohn

114. Piano Quartet No. 2 in E flat major, K493 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

115. String Quartet No. 6 in B flat major "La Malinconia" - Ludwig van Beethoven

116. String Quartet in D minor "Voces Intimae" - Jean Sibelius

117. String Quartet In G minor, Op. 74 No. 3 "Reiterquartett" - Joseph Haydn

118. Quintet for 2 Violins, 2 Violas and Cello in F major - Anton Bruckner

119. String Quartet in E minor - Giuseppe Verdi

120. String Quartet in G minor - Edvard Grieg

[jwinter]

I find it interesting that there's nobody on the list earlier than Haydn -- there's a lot of lovely chamber music out there by Bach, Handel, Purcell...

[karlhenning]

I find it interesting that there's nobody on the list earlier than Haydn -- there's a lot of lovely chamber music out there by Bach, Handel, Purcell...

Also, why only three exclamation points in the subject header?????

Edit :: smiley elimination

[Dr. Dread]

Go to the bottom of the page linked below for more fantastic classical lists!!!




http://digitaldreamdoor.nutsie.com/pages/music0.html

[Wanderer]

Since when do violin or cello sonatas not count as chamber music?

[Kullervo]

Isn't it disconcerting how these top-100 lists only have a dozen or so unique names? And only one piece by Fauré (an early and inferior one at that)?

[Opus106]

Isn't it disconcerting how these top-100 lists only have a dozen or so unique names?

We want The Ten Greatest Top Hundred List Names.

Or The Top Ten Greatest Hundred List Names.

[karlhenning]

Isn't it disconcerting how these top-100 lists only have a dozen or so unique names?

You mean, there are more than 15 composers?

(More than 15 good composers?)

[Dr. Dread]

You mean, there are more than 15 composers?

(More than 15 good composers?)

There are 15 great composers. The rest? Meh.

[DavidRoss]

Looks as if they inadvertently swapped the positions of Schumann and Schubert's piano quintets (an easy mistake to make...their names sound so much alike!), otherwise everything looks to be in order.

(Do I really have to put an "eyes rolling" emoticon here to underscore the irony?)

[prémont]

(Do I really have to put an "eyes rolling" emoticon here to underscore the irony?)

No, not so far as this appears to be your standard implicit emoticon.

[Fëanor]

...

Thanks for the list, Mn Dave.  Since I'm still a learner, I appreciate other people's opinions & suggestions.

Some people scoff at lists like this; perhaps they are such know-it-alls that they find them sophomoric.  For my part, I acknowledge that I am a sophomore myself and can therefore benefit.

Of course I don't take the "Greatest" part as definitive -- just somebody's opinion.  (See my list below.)

[DavidRoss]

As long as you don't take the "rankings" too seriously, such lists are indeed helpful in suggesting a core body of work to explore.  Hopefully, everyone here is still a learner and remains so for the rest of their days.

[karlhenning]

There are 15 great composers. The rest? Meh.

(* sigh *)

[Kullervo]

As long as you don't take the "rankings" too seriously, such lists are indeed helpful in suggesting a core body of work to explore.  Hopefully, everyone here is still a learner and remains so for the rest of their days.

Oh, I'm a perpetual novice. Hardly a week goes by that I don't discover music new to me by a composer that's new to me. Each new composer is a new personality waiting to divulge its unique secrets to you.

At least they have the Janáček quartets. The 2nd would be pretty close to the top if I were to make such a list.

[Lethevich]

I'm not sure why literal lists would be needed even for beginners - it stifles exploration in place of a single persons criteria. Why not stumble through the byways of composers renowned for mastery in whatever form is being look for - the most "important" works will be self-evident in the large amount of recordings of them available...

Edit: Or at least make it as informal as possible -

"Dvorak's late quartets, Brahms' cello sonatas" etc :3

[Bogey]

There are 15 great composers. The rest? Meh.

Since when did this category hit the double digit mark, Dave?  (Ducks from brick being thrown all the way from Boston.)

[George]

Since when did this category hit the double digit mark, Dave?  (Ducks from brick being thrown all the way from Boston.)

Don't mind Bill, he's giddy from a free day off. 

[Dr. Dread]

Since when did this category hit the double digit mark, Dave?  (Ducks from brick being thrown all the way from Boston.)

I'm attempting to be open-minded.

[DavidRoss]

Since when did this category hit the double digit mark, Dave?  (Ducks from brick being thrown all the way from Boston.)

I'm with you, Bill.  Maybe 7 or 8 "great" ones--double digits is really stretching it.  But then I think there's a significant difference between a great actor--say, Meryl Streep?--and a good actor--Gwenneth Paltrow, perhaps?--not to mention all the journeymen who may have had one or two noteworthy roles in otherwise unmemorable careers.

It's not a knock on Schumann, for instance, to say he doesn't quite stand with Bach, and I suspect he would be the first to agree.  The issue really is about the meaning of words.  If "great" is to mean anything in this context other than "yeah, dude, I heard of him," then we must restrain our use of it instead of applying it to every Tom, Dick, and Harry just because we like their music.  Hell, I like Copland, Barber, Gershwin, and Ives.  I like them a lot, in fact.  And they're also Americans, like me, and there just might be a little bit of national pride in their accomplishments.  Plus they had some influence in 20th Century music, and damned near everyone knows who they are.  But none of that makes them great, certainly not in the way we all agree that Beethoven and Mozart were great, and to claim otherwise is just foolishness.