Classical-Era Chamber Music

[Grazioso]

Setting aside the major, well-represented names (Mozart, Haydn, Boccherini, LvB), what are some composers/discs of Classical-era chamber music you'd recommend?

[ChamberNut]

I'll be checking for these recommendations also. 

French composer Georges Onslow (1784-1853) immediately comes to mind.  Very prolific string quartet and string quintet writer.  Unfortunately, few recordings.  Harry has at least one recording of his.


Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837) is another I'm sure that will be mentioned.  I don't know much about him, but curious to see what the recommendations are.

[val]

Some suggestions:

Franz Benda:  6 violin Sonatas    / Anton Steck, Christian Rieger

Louis Spohr:  Octet Double opus 65; Sextet opus 140; Quintet opus 33/2     / L'Archibudelli

Michael Haydn: String Quintets opus 105, 108 and 109     / L'Archibudelli

Arriaga:  3 String Quartets      / Guarneri Quartet

[Harry]

I'll be checking for these recommendations also. 

French composer Georges Onslow (1784-1853) immediately comes to mind.  Very prolific string quartet and string quintet writer.  Unfortunately, few recordings.  Harry has at least one recording of his.


Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837) is another I'm sure that will be mentioned.  I don't know much about him, but curious to see what the recommendations are.

Harry has about 12 recordings from the composer Onslow!

[ChamberNut]

Harry has about 12 recordings from the composer Onslow!

Hmm, I'll have to have a close eye on the "refusal bin" 

[Harry]

Hmm, I'll have to have a close eye on the "refusal bin" 

Harry will never part from Onslow!

[Josquin des Prez]

Norbert Burgmüller opus 14 quartet. 

[JoshLilly]

I'd like to second the recommendation of Arriaga's 3 String Quartets. Along with Lekeu, surely he was one of the worst tragic early deaths of a composer. Arriaga died just before reaching his 20th birthday!

Hummel is always superb, but if I had to narrow down, I'd say his Piano Trios. These can be really exceptional. I have a lot of his chamber music, and like it all, and love some of it, but a set of the piano trios would probably go down well with a lot of folks. Keep in mind that some of his music, including maybe the last couple of piano trios, might be more chronologically considered Romantic than Classical era. I'm not sure when his Clarinet Quartet (did he only write one??) was composed, but it's really awesome if it qualifies!

The same holds true for Onslow, for that matter, with regards to living in the Classical and Romantic eras.

I guess Reicha's wind chamber music might be pretty popular, even with people not into exploring more obscure music. I know some people who give little time whatsoever to non-famous composers that still like that.

And this also holds true for Krommer, who I consider to have written the greatest woodwind chamber music of all time. This stuff is really, really great.

But let's get a bit less vague. I'll try to narrow myself down, as hard as it is for me!

- Antonin Reicha: Wind Quintet #2 in E-Flat, Op.88#2. There are about 5 of his wind quintets that I think are just truly Great, and even the worst is very good, but due to melodic memorability, I might go with this one to start. The 2nd movement is one that really sticks in the head right away.

- Leontzi Honauer - Keyboard Sonata with Violin Accompaniment #6 in C. You might never have heard of this guy. I've heard some, and liked it, but didn't love it, except for this. Specifically, the first movement. This is another "stick in your head" things. The first movement is very, very catchy.

- James Hook - Piano Concerto #5 in D, Op.1#5. Written for a small ensemble, and often recorded as a piano quartet, this is a true masterpiece. I suggest the CD "The World's Oldest Piano Concertos" version, it'll blow you away.

[JoshLilly]

Norbert Burgmüller opus 14 quartet. 

Very good suggestion, but I think this would be more properly deemed Romantic, so I didn't want to use any Burgmüller suggestions. But I think the best chamber music by either of the Burgmüller brothers was maybe Friedrich's Arpeggione Nocturne in A minor, and I think it does properly fall into the Classical era.


EDIT: I just looked it up, and Norbert Burgmüller's A minor (Op.14) string quartet seems to date to 1835. I leave the definitions of Classical Era or Romantic Era up to you   It is indeed a tremendous work. The MD&G label has recorded a lot of Norbert's music. I think he was the better composer of the two, but my favourite chamber work by either remains that gorgeous nocturne by older brother Friedrich.

[Grazioso]

EDIT: I just looked it up, and Norbert Burgmüller's A minor (Op.14) string quartet seems to date to 1835. I leave the definitions of Classical Era or Romantic Era up to you   It is indeed a tremendous work. The MD&G label has recorded a lot of Norbert's music. I think he was the better composer of the two, but my favourite chamber work by either remains that gorgeous nocturne by older brother Friedrich.

Thanks, all, for the suggestions. Some of these I've heard (of), many not. As for eras, I was particularly interested in the High Classical style of the late 1700's since I know LvB's contemporaries of the early 1800's are relatively well represented in the catalog.

[JoshLilly]

If you want to stick pre-1800 for this exploration, I can strongly recommend Fiala chamber music, and Hoffmeister chamber music for strings. There's also the much-maligned Dittersdorf's string quartets. I don't think most of his symphonies are particularly fantastic (with perhaps 2 exceptions), but his string quartets (and operas, for that matter) are a whole different ball game, in my opinion.

[Josquin des Prez]

Crap, nobody mentioned Cherubini yet?

I must confess i'm not a big fan of "classical" music outside of the big three. Explore at your own risk.

[Gurn Blanston]

Crap, nobody mentioned Cherubini yet?

I must confess i'm not a big fan of "classical" music outside of the big three. Explore at your own risk.

OK< I'll give you a chance to vent your spleen. Cherubini's 6 string quartets are very nice indeed. I refrained on the grounds that Josh cited: where is the end of the Classical Era (if indeed there is a true end)?  These date from approx. 1830, but Cherubini was a true Classicist no matter the chronology.

Quartet David on BIS...



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Now playing:
Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings - Hamburg SO / Springer - Tchaikovsky Serenade in C for Strings Op 48 3rd mvmt

[BorisG]

[DavidW]

OK< I'll give you a chance to vent your spleen. Cherubini's 6 string quartets are very nice indeed. I refrained on the grounds that Josh cited: where is the end of the Classical Era (if indeed there is a true end)?  These date from approx. 1830, but Cherubini was a true Classicist no matter the chronology.

Quartet David on BIS...

That's in my cart on eclassical, good price I had Cherubini sqs before but performed by some really bland british ensemble, I forgot who they were now...

[Gurn Blanston]

That's in my cart on eclassical, good price I had Cherubini sqs before but performed by some really bland british ensemble, I forgot who they were now...

Hausmusik London.



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Now playing:
Hellwig  Cracow State PO / Bader - Puccini Concerto in B for Piano & Orchestra 3rd mvmt

[DavidW]

Hausmusik London.

Oh no wait I remember now, completely screwed up.  I heard some string quartets by another composer performed blandly by the Cherubini Quartet, that's the brits I was thinking of.

And later I heard the Cherubini Quartets not played by the Cherubini Quartet and I enjoyed the music.  Yeah that was a big brain fart there.

[Kullervo]

Anyone familiar with this set?

http://www.amazon.com/Hyacinthe-Louis-Emmanuel-Jadin-Trois-quatuors/dp/B00005S7WU/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1205809998&sr=8-1

[Grazioso]

Anyone familiar with this set?

http://www.amazon.com/Hyacinthe-Louis-Emmanuel-Jadin-Trois-quatuors/dp/B00005S7WU/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1205809998&sr=8-1

No, but note that you can also get it as part of a larger boxed set of French chamber music played by the Mosaiques.

[Kullervo]

No, but note that you can also get it as part of a larger boxed set of French chamber music played by the Mosaiques.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Added to wishlist!