performed by the Hagen Quartet (cover image by Ehud Neuhaus) Before God, and as an honest man, I tell you that your son is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by name. He has taste, and, … Continue reading Mozart String Quartet no. 14 in G, K. 387
performed by Joszef Kiss and the Kodály Quartet, or below by Alexei Ogrintchouk, oboe; Baiba Skride, violin; Veronika Hagen, viola; Sol Gabetta, cello (cover image by Anita Austvika) Mozart’s Oboe quartet dates from 1781, a few years later than the … Continue reading Mozart Oboe Quartet in F, K. 370
performed by the Stenhammar Quartet, or below by the Glazunov Quartet (cover image by Johannes Plenio) At the beginning one does not expect much from this piece completed under the tutelage of Nikolay Myaskovsky on November 20, 1928; a study piece and … Continue reading Dmitry Kabalevsky: String Quartet no. 1 in Am, op. 8
performed by members of the Berlin Philharmonic Octet, or as below, by people you may recognize (cover image by Christopher Harris) Say goodbye to Beethoven. At least for a few weeks. We’re working our way through the earlier pieces of … Continue reading Beethoven Septet in E flat, op. 20
performed by Eric LeSage, Paul Meyer, and Claudio Bohórquez, or below by José Franch-Ballester, Ani Aznavoorian and Warren Jones (cover image by Michael D. Beckwith) Today’s work is the one that ruined it all for Beethoven’s piano trios. Just kidding. … Continue reading Beethoven Piano Trio in B flat, op. 11
performed by the Grumiaux Trio and William Bennett, or as below by Ensemble Connect (cover image by Aleyna Rentz) With this piece, we jump ahead a bit in Mozart’s chronology, to 1777. The work was apparently completed on Christmas day … Continue reading Mozart Flute Quartet no. 1 in D, K. 285
performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Wind Ensemble, or below by Ensemble Zefiro, apparently on period instruments (cover image by Diego Botero) I just want to point out that 1773 was a relatively busy year for the young Mozart, in his mid-teens. … Continue reading Mozart Divertimento no. 3 in E flat, K. 166
performed by Trio Wanderer, or below by the Beaux Arts Trio (cover image by Aaron Burden) The second piece of Beethoven’s op. 70 piano trios is in E flat, and carries no nickname or subtitle or anything. The work, like … Continue reading Beethoven Piano Trio in E flat, op. 70 no. 2
performed by Trio Wanderer, or below by Barenboim, Du Pre and Zukerman (cover image by Norbert Levajsics) Moving right along in Beethoven’s catalogue, we come to the op. 70 piano trios, of which there are two. These works come just … Continue reading Beethoven Piano Trio in D, op. 70 no. 1, ‘Ghost’
performed by the Quartetto Italiano and Maurizio Pollini, or below by the Amadeus Quartet with Christoph Eschenbach (cover image by Vidar Nordli Mathisen) Have you ever had that experience of meeting (well, more like being in the presence of) someone … Continue reading Brahms Piano Quintet in Fm, op. 34
performed by the Amadeus Quartet, or below by the Festetics Quartet (cover image by Rachel Lynette French) Well, here we are again, continuing to slog away at Mozart’s enormous catalogue of works. Just kidding; it’s not a chore. It’s just … Continue reading Mozart String Quartet no. 8 in F, K. 168
performed by the Ensemble Risognanze under Tito Ceccherini, or as below, with the Ensemble Recherche under Kwam Ryan We are musicians and our model is sound not literature, sound not mathematics, sound not theatre, visual arts, quantum physics, geology, astrology or acupuncture. … Continue reading Gérard Grisey: Vortex Temporum
performed by the Stanislas Quartet and Christian Ivaldi (cover image by Easton Oliver) Florent Schmitt was born on September 28, 1870 in Meurthe-et-Moselle, and entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 19, studying with Fauré, Massenet, Dubois, and Lavignac. … Continue reading Florent Schmitt: Piano Quintet in Bm, op. 51
performed by the Schubert Ensemble, or below by the Quatuor Ysaÿe with Pascal Rogé, piano (cover image by Abigail Keenan) Gabriel Urbain Fauré was born on May 12, 1845 in Pamiers, Ariège, “in the Occitanie region in southwestern France.” He was the youngest of six … Continue reading Gabriel Fauré: Piano Quartet no. 1 in Cm, op. 15
performed by János Starker, cello; Rudolf Firkušný, piano, or below by Jan Páleníček, cello; Jitka Čechová, piano The third cello sonata occupies ground somewhere between that of the concerto and the symphony. Its form is fluid… The looser process of constant evolution, … Continue reading Martinů Cello Sonata no. 3, H. 340
performed by the Beaux Arts Trio, or below by the people credited in this video (cover image by Joanna Kosinska) Erich Wolfgang Korngold was born on May 29, 1897 in Brünn, Austria-Hungary, which is nowadays Brno, in what is apparently … Continue reading Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Piano trio in D, op. 1
performed by Cecil Aronowitz and the Amadeus Quartet, or as below: You have never before heard such a beautiful work from me. Brahms, writing of his quintet (cover image by Freddie Marriage) Brahms’s first string quintet, with an additional viola, … Continue reading Brahms String Quintet no. 1 in F, op. 88
performed by Tamás Vásáry, Thomas Brandis, Wolfram Christ and Ottomar Borwitzky, or below with Sviatoslav Richter and members of the Borodin Quartet (cover image by Maciej Rusek) We recently discussed the G minor quartet, op. 25, and it was a reminder … Continue reading Brahms Piano Quartet No. 2 in A, op. 26
performed by Tamás Vásáry, Thomas Brandis, Wolfram Christ and Ottomar Borwitzky, or below by Ax, Stern, Laredo, and Ma https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gX96azNTi98&feature=youtu.be&t=11m10s (cover image by Patrick Fischer) If you haven’t yet discovered Brahms’s chamber music, here’s a bit more for you. We’ve done … Continue reading Brahms Piano Quartet No. 1 in Gm, op. 25
performed by Boris Berman and the Vermeer Quartet, or as below (with the composer’s wife at the piano) I had to take what I wrote from imaginary spaces defined in terms of sound and put it into the psychological space … Continue reading Schnittke Quintet for Piano and Strings
performed by the Zurich String Trio, or below by the Grumiaux Trio (cover image by Ivan Jevtic) As I mentioned in an article earlier this week, we will be seeing lots of Beethoven this year. We’ll be seeing a dozen pieces from … Continue reading Beethoven String Trio in Cm, op. 9 no. 3
Fugue for Thought 