Piano Quintets

[Dax]

Medtner's quintet is certainly a favourite. Not too much of the "german" I would have thought.

Has anybody encountered the Quintet by Henning Mankell? (not the author, but his grandfather - composer of some very attractive piano works).

[snyprrr]

Anton Rubinstein PQ in g minor Op.99 (1876)

Oh, this thing is monstrous. Truly, if Frankenstein had written music, it would have sounded like this. It's stormy, at times lumbering, and there are bizarre limbs dangling everywhere. The last two mvmts do contain some hammering piano, and strange antiphonal interplay, to make one make Confused-Dog-Face (Scoob?). This is Beethovenian in such overblown, gothic proportions as to make it equally shocking and endearing. However, the jury is still ultimately out.

Fire,..baaad.

[snyprrr]

I'm particularly interested in PQ's by French & Belgian composers.  The ones I have on CD are as follows:

Saint-Saens, Gouvy, Farrenc (2), Faure (2),  Hahn, Franck, Schmitt, Vierne, Widor (2), D'Indy, Koechlin,
Le Flem, Hure, Castillon, Pierne, Cras, Theo Ysaye, Henri Dupont, Witkowski, Biarent, Ryelandt, Meulemanns, Durosoir

Does anyone know of others?

You know, I've been working off J's excellent list, and I've got some real winners. Along with the LeFlem, whose typical minor key melodic appeal and perfectly judged drama won me over, the PQs by Biarent, Hure, Dupont, and Ysaye might be even deeper and darker, though with still that perfectly judged drama (not too hysterical like some Germans perhaps ).

One that is over the top is the Witkowski (1898), just totally hothouse overblown and bursting the seams. Actually, one thing that I am noticing about PQs, and I don't know how this translates to Piano Quartets, or Piano Trios, but in almost all, and it is, the architecture of the piece is pretty well laid before us, because of the obbligato interplay between two such different entities.

The piano, in all these pieces, has incredible feats of virtuosity. All these Composers could rip it up good, but I think Witkowski takes the cake for just good ole Romantic Zeal.


The PQ by Hermann Zilcher (1918), whilst retaining the same ingredients as the rest (including, as with any post-WWI music, a slightly darker hue) has a central slow mvmt that is quite unique, and beautiful, in an almost chorale like fashion. It certainly stands out amongst all the other more typically Romantic slow mvmts in its almost funereally noble passage.

The scherzo-like Intermezzo of the Biarent PQ, also, has been a highpoint of interest, taking a high profile in its minor key witches music. As I said earlier, the Rubinstein, whether the playing or the music or both, had some bizarre bits that actually came off quite Schnittke like, haha, very dorky on purpose.



I don't know, but as I delve into this PQ literature, it seems that a pinnacle of Romantic Expression was poured into this form from the late 1800s to 1919 (poof,...done!,...war, bad). Was this amount of tempest raising drama possible in any other form, or was the PQ the perfect vehicle for the true Romantic Spirit of Storming the Heavens,... uh, in an intimate setting? It's just that most of these pieces are Masterworks, ...pow, one after another. I guess the standard was just that high at the time.

And, it's interesting to see what happens between the fin de siecle and WWI. The Witkowski (1898) is over the top, but then a brooding creepiness begins to infect the proceedings, as if the rot of the bloated Tradition were chromatically searing the edges off the drama,... to the graveyard indeed!

Nothing else says Symphony-in-a-Can quite like the PQ! Knuckle bustin', and string poppin'!

[snyprrr]

I've just noticed that YouTube has quite a number of quintets to offer (many unknown to me).

And yes, Juliusz Zarebski's masterpiece is available as well - in three different renditions!

After a (very) brief sampling, I have taken to the emotional intensity of this version (no performers quoted):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3367pk7wk4

In comparison, these guys (whoever they are, again - no information) seem to be asleep at the beginning. But they do pick up the pace soon enough. The pianism did not strike me as very poetic, unfortunately:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEHZXAbctr4

This last version lets you actually see the people playing, but the interpretation (at least based on what I've sampled so far) seems... hm... tepid. Still, it's an actual video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sElKKXKong

Perhaps I should actually sit through each of them, but so far only the first has really caught my interest, so maybe I'll go back to it now...

Zarebski certainly has a strong melodic profile in his PQ. I didn't check the videos yet, but the Wilanow on Accord are mighty woodsy.

[snyprrr]

I also wanted to mention the Gouvy PQ (1850). This is like from a totally different era than the post-Brahms PQs.

It reminds me of Onslow, perhaps, though, it is pretty conservative and all. After everything else, the PQ seems ill served by conventional Classical-cum-Romantic type music.

If we just put the Schumann/Brahms lightning rod over here for a minute (and Schubert), what PQ Masterpiece do we have before we reach the Golden Era (1896-1919)? Boccherini? Onslow? Hummel? Vanhal? I mean,....meh? Anyone?

I imagine some Late Haydn PQs that sound like Op.77, ...a bit drier, and four square. I'm sure we have a winner here. Guys?

Do we have any harpsichord PQs (with String Quartet) besides Boccherini? And I mean Classical Era (there's several Great 20th century works).

[The new erato]

Interesting dialogue going on here!

[Maciek]

Zarebski certainly has a strong melodic profile in his PQ. I didn't check the videos yet, but the Wilanow on Accord are mighty woodsy.

That's the one with Esztenyi, right? I've never heard it. The used copies are absurdly expensive.

A couple of years ago there was a recording with the Silesians (Kowalski on piano), and I missed that one too. (I do have a radio recording of the Silesians with Knapik, though; it's pretty cool - or hot, actually.)

On amazon, someone called Discophage has apparently done some thorough comparative listening to the versions currently more or less available:

Esztenyi
Witkowski
Malicki
Jablonski

No review of the Szpilman, Kowalski or Świtała (the most recent one, on BeArTon), but the Szpilman at least gets mentioned.

[snyprrr]

That's the one with Esztenyi, right?

yes!

[snyprrr]

I have been slowly absorbing this ever growing, throbbing pile of PQs that have most certainly enriched my listening world. I am convinced that the PQ IS the best expression of UltraLate Romaticism.

Nothing quite captures that rapturous Orphean? swooning like, for example, the PQs by Witkowski, Biarent, LeFlem, Hure, DuPont, Ysaye, and Schmitt. All of these are massive, weaving stories of 'back-of-the-hand-on-the-forehead' stormy seas. And, the Golden Age of PQs must be 1898-1914/19, with a few straggling Masterpieces in the mid-20s. I used to think that Bloch No.1 was in a class by itself, but now have come to see it as one in a crowded field of Masterpieces. The PQ has certainly prompted many Composers to Olympian Heights. I know a lot of you like the Bloch, so let me heartily recommend some of these other names. Really, as unique as the Bloch is, once you've heard so many different flavors, his Exoticism seems par for the course. There are many mighty things going on in these Giant Works.

Another aspect of the PQ that I've noticed, as if in response to the first kind, is the exquisitely refined type, as exemplified by the two Faure works. The Zilcher is like a German Faure, very nice, and the Hure, a 30min, one mvmt piece, also has much delicacy. Frank Martin's PQ, also, is quite a nice, Impressionistic work.



I do question the relative brevity of PQs by, say, Borodin or Arensky. Is it really a PQ if it's not 50mins long? The Borodin has good gothic ideas, but, of course, could be much more, and the Arensky isn't pretending to be anything anyhow, just almost suitelike in character. The Rubinstein, however, has the epic proportions, and is riotously Frankenstonian! in its lumbering, clunky, long limbed way. If you've seen that painting of Rubinstein at the piano, well, this is it, haha!



Frankly, the PQ doesn't seem to have done so well in this Modren Age. I have PQs by Xenakis, Sciarrino, DePablo, Ades, Wuorinen, Feldman, and maybe some others, but rarely if ever do they reach the heights of the former generation. I can't even call the Feldman part of the canon: it's just another piece of Feldman Music (I'm not knocking the piece). The Ades and Wuorinen are the closest to what semi-normal Composers might make of the PQ, and, frankly, in comparison, the results are meh. I especially relished loathing the Ades. Everything that seemed unnecessary,... and not very attractive,... a great example of what not to do with a PQ, perhaps. I have also heard that the Carter is relestlessly dry.

So, what do you think,... hmmm?

[snyprrr]

Is the PQ the "lion king" of chamber music? Does anyone have any deep philosophical worship/insights? I'm just curious...I almost feel like I'm in the presence of supremity and am not worthy to speak on the subject.

I was just reading this from the OP. My feelings towards this crucible have certainly reached new plateaus and attained to celestial vistas, as if standing on mountain ranges of oceans of passion.

Hey, I'm home on a Saturday Night, waddaya want?

I am thinking of My Imaginary PiQ, all glittering stars on an ultramarine canvas. Am I wrong, or is it mostly the piano that leads the show here? I struggle to imagine a perfectly integrated sound, seeing the timbrel differences.

Actually, I was thinking the piano could only play out of the range of the strings, so, does that mean just the lowest notes, or the lowest and highest? De Profundis?

oy, I must be bored.

[Lethevich]

It's cheating, as it's a piano quartet, but I am not the first to do so in this thread

I just encountered Guillaume Lekeu's unfinished piano quartet, which at 27 minutes for just the first two movements (the second movement isn't even as long as it could have been - D'Indy completed it only to render it performable) would surely fit the "epic" criteria Snips is seeking if it were actually finished Wonderful French late Romantic ramblings with a rather sad and wistful edge.

[snyprrr]

Furtwangler Piano Quintet


This is The One. The Monster. The Giant. Clocking in at @70mins., it certainly nudges Pettersson and Feldman alike.

I'm just going to call it a Masterpiece and leave it at that. It is frankly perfect music for this impending snow look outside. It sounds like Wuthering Heights! It is slightly anonymous, grey, Germanic, slightly restrained yet epic, effortlessly sustaining its reason for being along its entire span. The Finale has joyousness, the Slow Mvmt. deep mystery.

Really, there are no big Tchaikovskian melodies to savor afterwards, but the whole thing just congeals into its own mold very nicely. It just has that Perfect Music quality about.

The virtuosity may not be as barn burning as say, Witkowski, but, beyond any Lisztian aspect, there is nothing to critique here. Is Furtwangler The Last One? Maybe so.

The Piano Quintet Thread honors Wilhelm Furtwangler as the recipient of its highest award: the Ultimate Masterpiece Award, which is bestowed on those works which go above and beyond the requirements, the expectations, nay, the conception of its Board of Directors.

Prost!

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Furtwangler Piano Quintet


This is The One. The Monster. The Giant. Clocking in at @70mins.,

Supposedly there's a P5tet by Rochberg that is also monster-sized (7 mvts. I think). However, the only available recording was stranded on vinyl last I heard.

[Daverz]

[snyprrr]

yum yum

[snyprrr]

I thought I had a Post where I was saying that the Saint-Saens PQ was becoming my favorite. Without going into it, every note is perfect!

HOWEVER,... I was listening to the cdR which had Saint-Saens and Castillon, and, as the cd went from SS to Castillon, I noticed that the timings were off. As it turns out, the SS was ACTUALLY the Castillon!

Sooo,... WOW!, this PQ by Alexis Castillon! Does anyone else have this piece? It is only available on one cd (w/Piano Quartet) and I just can't believe it is not more popular. On;y someone who has had the reaction I have can understand.

This PQ by Castillon has such a winning, and familiar, lyricism. The 16min! first mvmt,... honestly?,... I don't want it to end. It almost reminds me of a PopSong, it has such memorability to it.

CASTILLON: Remember this one!


As for the Saint-Saens, now that the PQ I used to think was by Castillon I find is by Uncle Poof. Well, I WAS on the verge of a major SS research purchase (to find all the other Masterpieces), so, I am very thankful to find the err!! I suppose it was blowing my mind that Saint-Saens's Op.15 (that's Op.15, mind you) could have been such a Masterpiece. HA!, now I have learned a good lesson. Poor SS! On the other hand, now that the former 'Castillon PQ' is now the SS PQ, well, it's not so hot at all. As the Castillon PQ, it was worth hearing a few more times to put it in its place, but, as the SS PQ, it will probably languish. Poor, poor Camille. ,... NOT!

Let's just say that when I thought this piece was by SS, I almost had a Guilty Pleasure listening to it, but now, as a piece by Castillon, I can whole heartedly call it a Masterpiece without regret! Castillon's star has risen, SS's,...eh, not so much!

YOU MUST HEAR THIS PQ BY CASTILLON!

[snyprrr]

I thought I had a Post where I was saying that the Saint-Saens PQ was becoming my favorite. Without going into it, every note is perfect!

HOWEVER,... I was listening to the cdR which had Saint-Saens and Castillon, and, as the cd went from SS to Castillon, I noticed that the timings were off. As it turns out, the SS was ACTUALLY the Castillon!

Sooo,... WOW!, this PQ by Alexis Castillon! Does anyone else have this piece? It is only available on one cd (w/Piano Quartet) and I just can't believe it is not more popular. On;y someone who has had the reaction I have can understand.

This PQ by Castillon has such a winning, and familiar, lyricism. The 16min! first mvmt,... honestly?,... I don't want it to end. It almost reminds me of a PopSong, it has such memorability to it.

CASTILLON: Remember this one!


As for the Saint-Saens, now that the PQ I used to think was by Castillon I find is by Uncle Poof. Well, I WAS on the verge of a major SS research purchase (to find all the other Masterpieces), so, I am very thankful to find the err!! I suppose it was blowing my mind that Saint-Saens's Op.15 (that's Op.15, mind you) could have been such a Masterpiece. HA!, now I have learned a good lesson. Poor SS! On the other hand, now that the former 'Castillon PQ' is now the SS PQ, well, it's not so hot at all. As the Castillon PQ, it was worth hearing a few more times to put it in its place, but, as the SS PQ, it will probably languish. Poor, poor Camille. ,... NOT!

Let's just say that when I thought this piece was by SS, I almost had a Guilty Pleasure listening to it, but now, as a piece by Castillon, I can whole heartedly call it a Masterpiece without regret! Castillon's star has risen, SS's,...eh, not so much!

YOU MUST HEAR THIS PQ BY CASTILLON!

No one has heard of Alexis Castillon? You MUST hear this PQ!

[The new erato]

For the interested, there's this disc:



Interestingly enough, the Quintet is op 1.

[abidoful]

Snyprrr,
beware of piano quintets

[The new erato]

And don't forget this disc with TWO quintets on - already ordered!