The Elusive Piano Quartet

[snyprrr]

Is this the most misunderstood genre of chamber music? I don't even know what the point is. I mean, it doesn't really lend itself to masterpieces (did anyone ever sit down consciously to write their magnum opus for this troupe?)

Cinderella as music?

MOZART (4)
BEETHOVEN...4 OR 6?

MENDELSSOHN
SCHUMANN
BRAHMS (3)
mahler

weber
berwald
schubert: adagio+rondo
j.c. bach
hummel
saint-saens
d'indy
jongen
hahn
widor
schmitt: hasards
rubinstein (2)
taneyev
rheinberger
strauss
parry
walton
turina
chausson
kornauth

novak
fibich
DVORAK 1-2
FAURE 1-2
reger

MARTINU
MILHAUD
JACOB
FRANKEL
tansman
coulthard

balada
surinach
fiala

FELDMAN-piano,violin,viola,cello (brilliant title jeeves)

and I've saved my fav for the last: COPLAND (the perfect serial PQrt).
also...a find...anders ELIASSON Fogliame.

There's more, but as you can see, the famous names drop of pretty quickly. As far as favs, I can see this becoming more than ever a "usual suspects" game. If you have any "hiddens", please expose them....herrhumm. I fear you will all choose Faure.

The Copland piece just says it for me. It seems like such a lonely piece (I have the ASV-much better recording). Along with his Nonet, my fav Copland. The Martinu is also attractive.

The Eliasson has a "wind through the trees" sound (hence "Fogliame") that I find quite appealing.

Question: could any of these pieces have been written for other forces, or could they not have come out as anything but a Piano Quartet? What IS the point?, I want to know. WAS the second violinist drunk???

[Ten thumbs]

Is this the most misunderstood genre of chamber music? I don't even know what the point is. I mean, it doesn't really lend itself to masterpieces (did anyone ever sit down consciously to write their magnum opus for this troupe?)

Yes, Mel Bonis did with her second piano quartet and I would say that she succeeded.

[Guido]

The Fauré's are the classics of course, but I'm also rather fond of the Copland, Walton, Gass and Howells piano quartets - all wonderful.

One of my all time favourite chamber works is Korngold's Suite for piano left hand, 2 violins and cello - one of his best.

And finest of all is Schumann's which I prefer to the piano quintet - another desert island piece for me. As clear a masterpiece if ever there was one.

Don't agree that they are pointless at all - some of us prefer intimacy to grandiosity you know! The string trio as a genre lies in the same relationship to the string quartet. I love both genres of course, but each definitely has its place.

[some guy]

Is this the most misunderstood genre of chamber music?

Is an instrumental ensemble a genre? I know we, carelessly, refer to the string quartet as if it were. But really, is a piano quartet the same type of thing as a symphony? (Orchestral music doesn't identify a genre; it's an ensemble. Tone poem, that's a genre. Suite. Waltz. Serenade. Band? Naw.)

And one can make masterpieces with any old instrument or group of instruments. (That sounded like a description of a Cage piece, eh?)

Anyway, to be serious for just a minute, the second violinist was out bar hopping with me. Is that a problem?

[jimmosk]

snyprr, a few piano quartets you missed, that you might want to track down:

Berwald
Taneyev - a great piece
Parry
Mahler - an unfinished early work
Walton
Rochberg

-J

[ChamberNut]

J-O-H-A-N-N-E-S   B-R-A-H-M-S

[springrite]

Wouldn't you know it, the piano quartet is Vanessa's favorite genre, though she has only listened to a few pieces. For some reason she feels like the piano quartet really speaks to her.

These are some of Vanessa's favorite:

BEETHOVEN
SCHUMANN
BRAHMS
NOVAK
DVORAK
FAURE

[snyprrr]

J-O-H-A-N-N-E-S   B-R-A-H-M-S

I've heard of Brahms.

[snyprrr]

I forgot all about the Mahler...indicative

[snyprrr]

Gerald BARRY Nos. 1-2