Top 11 Composers of Chamber Music

[Gurn Blanston]

Haydn
Onslow
Boccherini
Mozart
Beethoven
Schubert
Mendelssohn
Brahms
Dvorak
Tchaikovsky
Schumann

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Enjoying Wagner doesn't mean I can't appreciate works for smaller ensemble. And Wagner's magnificent siegfried idyll is composed for small chamber orchestra. It's sophisticated refined sound proves imo that he could compose effectively for smaller ensembles. Too bad Wagner's early D major string quartet is lost, it probably would not have been a masterpiece but it would have been interesting to at least hear it, to see how he handled it.

And I believe Wagner's works are very high quality: they have given me tremendous solace in all anxieties of my life.

[North Star]

Enjoying Wagner doesn't mean I can't appreciate works for smaller ensemble. And Wagner's magnificent siegfried idyll is composed for small chamber orchestra. It's sophisticated refined sound proves imo that he could compose effectively for smaller ensembles. Too bad Wagner's early D major string quartet is lost, it probably would not have been a masterpiece but it would have been interesting to at least hear it, to see how he handled it.

And I believe Wagner's works are very high quality: they have given me tremendous solace in all anxieties of my life.

I was of course just kidding with the Wagner one-liner. Parsifal is a magnificent piece of music. And I certainly wasn't referring to the forces he wrote for, but the sheer length of the works.

[Gurn Blanston]

Enjoying Wagner doesn't mean I can't appreciate works for smaller ensemble. And Wagner's magnificent siegfried idyll is composed for small chamber orchestra. It's sophisticated refined sound proves imo that he could compose effectively for smaller ensembles. Too bad Wagner's early D major string quartet is lost, it probably would not have been a masterpiece but it would have been interesting to at least hear it, to see how he handled it.

And I believe Wagner's works are very high quality: they have given me tremendous solace in all anxieties of my life.

Not taking any exception to any of those points, but for that to qualify him as a Top 11 composer of chamber music, or any composer of chamber music at all, is a real stretch. Just sayin'.

[Jaakko Keskinen]

I was of course just kidding with the Wagner one-liner. Parsifal is a magnificent piece of music. And I certainly wasn't referring to the forces he wrote for, but the sheer length of the works.

Yes, I understood you were kidding. No hard feelings with us Finns, eh? And I agree 100 % about Parsifal, I listened to it today several times. I sometimes consider Parsifal even greater work than Ring but usually Ring has won it's way back. But after Ring it's Parsifal all the way!

P.S Sorry for off-topic gurn!

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Not taking any exception to any of those points, but for that to qualify him as a Top 11 composer of chamber music, or any composer of chamber music at all, is a real stretch. Just sayin'.

I never said wagner was among my top 11 chamber music composers

[Gurn Blanston]

I never said wagner was among my top 11 chamber music composers

Ah, superfluous discussion begun by North Star. I understand now.

[North Star]

Yes, I understood you were kidding. No hard feelings with us Finns, eh? And I agree 100 % about Parsifal, I listened to it today several times. I sometimes consider Parsifal even greater work than Ring but usually Ring has won it's way back. But after Ring it's Parsifal all the way!

P.S Sorry for off-topic gurn!

No indeed.
Listening to Parsifal several times in a single day is quite an achievement!

[Jaakko Keskinen]

No indeed.
Listening to Parsifal several times in a single day is quite an achievement!

Oops sorry I meant I listened to parts of it several times, I listened the entire opera only once yesterday.

[Madiel]

Last week, in a time of high stress, I found solace by loading all 10 of Faure's large-scale chamber works onto my iPod.

That's 2 violin sonata, 2 cello sonatas, 1 piano trio, 1 string quartet, 2 piano quartets and 2 piano quintets.

You folks that don't have Faure on your list are missing out on some glorious stuff.

[North Star]

Last week, in a time of high stress, I found solace by loading all 10 of Faure's large-scale chamber works onto my iPod.

That's 2 violin sonata, 2 cello sonatas, 1 piano trio, 1 string quartet, 2 piano quartets and 2 piano quintets.

You folks that don't have Faure on your list are missing out on some glorious stuff.

Fauré is someone whose music I've been meaning to explore in more depth for a long time - I have the VS's on disc (also Ma & Stott's recording of no. 1 for vnclo & pf), and the Requiem with some fillers. I've of course heard some of the solo piano music, songs, and the rest of the chamber music, but haven't managed to get recordings yet.. And seeing that Ravel and Chopin are both in my top 5 (sometimes top 2), it's kind of obvious that I should like Fauré..

[Brahmsian]

Last week, in a time of high stress, I found solace by loading all 10 of Faure's large-scale chamber works onto my iPod.

That's 2 violin sonata, 2 cello sonatas, 1 piano trio, 1 string quartet, 2 piano quartets and 2 piano quintets.

You folks that don't have Faure on your list are missing out on some glorious stuff.

I've got him on mine. 

[Karl Henning]

Last week, in a time of high stress, I found solace by loading all 10 of Faure's large-scale chamber works onto my iPod.

That's 2 violin sonata, 2 cello sonatas, 1 piano trio, 1 string quartet, 2 piano quartets and 2 piano quintets.

You folks that don't have Faure on your list are missing out on some glorious stuff.

Note taken!

[Madiel]

Fauré is someone whose music I've been meaning to explore in more depth for a long time - I have the VS's on disc (also Ma & Stott's recording of no. 1 for vnclo & pf), and the Requiem with some fillers. I've of course heard some of the solo piano music, songs, and the rest of the chamber music, but haven't managed to get recordings yet.. And seeing that Ravel and Chopin are both in my top 5 (sometimes top 2), it's kind of obvious that I should like Fauré..

I am, as usual, fairly devoted to my Hyperion recordings. And basically, if it's got Susan Tomes on it, that's what I'm listening to!

Violin Sonatas - Osostowicz and Tomes
Cello Sonatas - Gerhardt and Licad (I specifically picked this one out after not being satisfied with another version)
Piano Trio - Florestan Trio (Marwood, Lester and Tomes)
String Quartet - Quatuor Ysaye, and I have to admit I don't really know this recording yet.
Piano Quartets - Domus (Osostowicz, Ireland, Hugh and Tomes)
Piano Quintets - Domus (Osotowicz, Boulton, Lester and Tomes) with Marwood, which has been one of most treasured discs for years and helped turn me into the Faure nut I became.


EDIT: It's perhaps also worth noting that of these 10 works, 6 of them were written at the end of Faure's career, between 1916 and 1924.  That's pretty remarkable for someone who sometimes tends to be thought of as a 19th century composer.

[North Star]

I'm sure that those Hyperion recordings are superb - they should box them all up and release a complete set like they did with Brahms's chamber music. (drool)

[Brian]

Are there versions of the [Bach] concertos that are more chamber than orchestral?

Thanks.

Answering this question late because it's so, so easy to answer. You need this box.

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Its a certified GMG Consensus Pick, and some of the concertos have as few as 6-7 performers. Consistently so outstanding that I think twice or even three times before acquiring any new Bach concerto album. (Celine Frisch in the Fifth Brandenburg is awe-inspiring.)

[Wanderer]

You folks that don't have Faure on your list are missing out on some glorious stuff.

I've always thought that Fauré's chamber music (which I love dearly) is one of the prime reasons to use the word crepuscular.

[Madiel]

I've always thought that Fauré's chamber music (which I love dearly) is one of the prime reasons to use the word crepuscular.

That seems like an apt description for op.89, and for many of the slow movements, but I'm not sure it fits very well otherwise. There are some pretty vigorous things in other movements. It feels a bit like calling Beethoven's op.27/1 'Moonlight' while listening to one of the most electrifying finales he ever composed.

[Jo498]

1. Beethoven
2. Haydn
3. Mozart
4. Brahms
5. Schubert
6. Dvorak
7. JS Bach
8. Bartok
9. Schumann
10. Mendelssohn
11. Fauré

Other candidates: Shostakovitch, Saint-Saens, Reger, Franck (not much, but two very great pieces), Debussy, Ravel, Boccherini, Biber, Corelli, Purcell, CPE Bach, Buxtehude, Grieg...

[Florestan]

I've always thought that Fauré's chamber music (which I love dearly) is one of the prime reasons to use the word crepuscular.

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