6 (or so) great chamber music openings

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Riffing on the "symphonic opening" thread, let's do the same for chamber music:

Carter: 1st String Quartet - declamatory cello cadenza makes you sit up and listen

Shostakovich: 2nd Piano Trio - cello way up high, violin way down low, a creepy effect

Brahms: 3rd Piano Trio (Op. 101) - sharp opening "call to attention"

Beethoven: 3rd Razumovsky Quartet - wandering around in a fog

Shostakovich: String Quartet #15 - a bleak, poignant melody slowly unfurls itself

Beethoven: String Quartet #14 (Op. 131) - kicking off a string quartet with a fugue...that's late Beethoven for you

[Orpheus]

So many stuff...

Mozart: Violin Sonata k 238
Mozart: String quartet K 421
Mozart: String quintet K 516
Mozart: Clarinet quintet K 581
Beethoven: Clarinet Trio Op.11
Beethoven: Razumovsky quartet no.1
Beethoven: Ghost Trio
Beethoven: Kreutzer Sonata
Hummel: Piano quintet no.1
Schubert: Arpeggione Sonata
Schubert: Death and Maiden quartet
Mendelssohn: Piano Trio no.1
Brahms: String sextet no.1
Brahms: Piano Trio no.1
Brahms: Clarinet Quintet
Dvorak: American String Quartet
Saint-Saens: Piano trio no.2
Lekeu: Piano Quartet
Bartok: String quartet no.1

I cannot decide... !!! 

[quintett op.57]

Smetana: 1st string quartet
for sure

[Luke]

Well, there are millions, of course (so I'd better put the two Janacek quartets in the mix straight away, they fully deserve it), but the one which springs to mind immediately is the opening of the Brahms G major string quintet. The one with the almost-but-not-quite miscalculation in balance, one cellist against the mass of the ensemble, struggling manfully with this terrific leaping, vaulting theme across the entire span of his instrument. So close to disaster - and so terrific and unique in the event.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

the opening of the Brahms G major string quintet.

Yeah, that's a great one. It encapsulates what I love about Brahms' craggy late style.

[The new erato]

Yeah, that's a great one. It encapsulates what I love about Brahms' craggy late style.

And the F Piano quintet as well.

[False_Dmitry]

Brahms Piano Quartet G-Minor - a potent opening that signals much to follow

Locke - Musick for His Majestie's Cornetts & Sackbutts - marvellous, sombre, crisp, and slightly mysterious

[Brian]

Brahms - Clarinet Quintet
Dvorak - Piano Quintet No 2 (actually, No 1 on my list)
Borodin - Second String Quartet (pretty simple, nothing affected about it ... which is exactly why it's gorgeous)

Rachmaninov's first piano trio has a smashing opening, now that I think of it.

[Brahmsian]

Tchaikovsky - Souvenir de Florence

Schubert - Death and The Maiden

Beethoven - Razumosky quartet no. 3

Mozart - Piano Quartet in G minor, K.478

Shostakovich - String Quartet No. 10 in A flat major, Op.118

Mozart - String Quartet No. 19 in C major, K.465 Dissonant

[Octo_Russ]

Dvorak - Piano Quintet 2 A lovely rippling piano with cello accompaniment.
Brahms - Violin Sonata 3 A sour D Minor exclamation, my favourite key.
Beethoven - Piano Trio 7 Archduke Full of majesty, what a major statement.
Beethoven - String Quartet 7 Starts as if in mid flight, a real headlong rush.
Schubert - String Quartet 14 Death and the Maiden Another D Minor opening, dark and menacing.
Brahms - Piano Quartet 2 A lovely solo piano, such a melancholy tune.

[Mirror Image]

Since I'm not a big chamber music fan (yet), the most striking (and beautiful) that I heard so far is Bax's "In Memoriam" written for English horn, string quartet, and harp. Absolutely a striking piece of music.

[Sid]

Geez, so many (even from my relatively limited knowledge), but I can definitely think of more than 6, most of them being string quartets:

Carter - String Quartet 1 - Agreed, love that jagged cello solo at the start, a phrase which forms the basis of the whole epic journey.

Berg - String Quartet - One of the bleakest openings to any work I have heard, and (like Carter) he takes this theme through the whole work.

A. Tcherepnin - String Quartet 2 - A quite tense opening, infused with jazzy & bluesy rhythms & ideas.

Messiaen - Quartet for the End of Time - The clarinet and violin "sing" like a duet of two birds.

Beethoven - Grosse Fuge - Agreed, it's vigour (& dissonance?) grabs the listener straight away.

Boulez - Sur Incises for 3 each of pianos, harps and percussionists - Starts off quietly, so you are unprepared for the maelstrom of sound and complexity which follows.

Schubert - Piano Quintet "Trout" - Playful, light, ebullent.

Walton - String Quartet in A minor - Like the best of Walton, wistful, melancholic, richly dark.

Varese - Octandre - A solo from the clarinet ushers in what is (for Varese) a fairly lyrical work.

Granados - Piano Trio - The piano playing quietly ushers in a gentle dialogue between the three instruments, which makes me feel like I'm in a salon in Paris at the turn of the C20th with the composer and Casals playing.

[abidoful]

The Grieg String Quartet.

[vandermolen]

Since I'm not a big chamber music fan (yet), the most striking (and beautiful) that I heard so far is Bax's "In Memoriam" written for English horn, string quartet, and harp. Absolutely a striking piece of music.

I also have less interest in chamber than orchestral music but here goes:

Shostakovich: Piano Quintet

Shostakovich: Piano Trio

Bax: Quintet for Harp and Strings

Vaughan Williams: Violin Sonata

Bloch: Piano Quintet No 1

Weinberg: Piano Quintet

Schnittke: Piano Quintet

[Brahmsian]

I still consider myself a chamber nut. 

Even though, the mix between listening to orchestral vs. chamber music has evened out.