performed by The Holywell Ensemble (Golly Gee Willikers, another with no YouTube. I should check on that more often, but I also won’t let the free availability of music on YouTube influence what I share, especially if I’ve spent the money … Continue reading John Ireland: piano trio no. 3 in E
performed by the Dartington Piano Trio, or below by Yehudi Menuhin, violin; Maurice Gendron, cello; Benjamin Britten, piano We’ve visited Frank Bridge before, a number of years ago, but that was a while ago, and I didn’t discuss his upbringing and … Continue reading Bridge Piano Trio no. 2
performed by the Coull String Quartet and Allan Schiller, piano; or below by the Sorrel Quartet with Ian Brown, piano Alice Elgar was quite right: it is a new urgency, pointed and refined by the discipline of writing chamber music, a … Continue reading Elgar Piano Quintet in Am, op. 84
performed by the Mannheim String Quartet with Joachim Griesheimer, available here on iTunes (U.S. store) or on Amazon (No YouTube today, but I highly recommend purchasing the recording of this work; it’s exquisite.) Smyth’s music was seldom evaluated as simply the work of a composer … Continue reading Dame Ethel Smyth: String Quintet in E, op. 1
performed by Richard Watkins, horn; Pauline Lowbury, violin; Christopher Green Armytage, piano (Sorry, no dice on YouTube for today’s piece, but if you want to preview it, you can do so at Hyperion’s page for the piece, whence comes much … Continue reading Simpson Trio for horn, violin and piano
performed by Tamás Vásáry, Thomas Brandis & Norbert Hauptmann, or below by Dale Clevenger, Itzhak Perlman, and Daniel Barenboim It’s been a while since we’ve seen Brahms on the blog, in fact about nine months, in his fourth and final symphony. Today’s … Continue reading Brahms Horn Trio in E-flat major, Op. 40
featuring 劉宜欣 (Cindy Liu), horn; 王佩瑤, piano; 李宜錦, violin, all members of the NSO So it’s actually not the NSO, but it is three of their members, in a rare gem of a chamber concert, and seriously what timing! You’ll see what I mean soon, … Continue reading NSO’s A Mellow Walk in Time
This is the second concert lately to feature works from Russian composers (singular in this case), and there’s lots more Russian music in the next few weeks. First, I have to say that the cast (as it was sort of a cast) … Continue reading The Soldier’s Tale
for clarinet and piano performed by Sabine Meyer and Oleg Maisenberg But I must thank you for your censure just as much as for everything you ever gave me, in the full knowledge that it is meant well—and for my … Continue reading Berg: Vier Stücke, op. 5
performed by Vladimir Ashkenazy, Zsolt-Tihamér Visontay & Mats Lidström, or below with Janine Jansen, violin; Torleif Thedéen, cello; Eldar Nebolsin, piano Soviet disturbances weren’t the only bane of Shostakovich’s existence. He suffered from health ailments throughout his life, it seems. At … Continue reading Shostakovich Piano Trio in Cm, op. 8
performed by the Coull Quartet, or below by the Maggini String Quartet (do note that the video below is both the quartet and the quintet; the quartet itself is only about a half hour in performance) It is full of golden sounds … Continue reading Sir Edward Elgar: String Quartet in E minor, Op. 83
for violin, viola and cello, performed by the Zurich String Trio, or below by the Grumiaux Trio So it’s 2017 and all… We’ve yet to complete even our traversal of the op. 18 string quartets, and that will slowly but surely … Continue reading Beethoven Serenade in D major, op. 8
performed by the Kronos Quartet and Aki Takahashi or below from the Midsummer Chamber Music Festival at the Harpa Concert Hall, Reykjavik, Iceland Morton Feldman was born on January 12, 1926 and is considered “a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with … Continue reading Morton Feldman: Piano and String Quartet
performed by the Ensemble Wien-Berlin, or below by the commissioner of the work, the Czech Nonet subsequent movements can be found in this playlist This work was an accident. Martinů’s name had been one I was vaguely aware of, but with … Continue reading Bohuslav Martinů: Nonet no. 2, H. 374
performed by the folks in this video: second and third movements Amy Mary Cheney Beach was born on September 5, 1867 in New Hampshire. She showed a stunning talent for music from an extremely young age, but her musical career … Continue reading Amy Beach: Piano Quintet in f sharp minor, op.67
performed by the Mendelssohn Piano Trio (and obviously another unidentified person who I can’t seem to find a credit for) or as below Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev was born on November 25 (13) 1856 in Vladimir Oblast “to a cultured and … Continue reading Sergei Taneyev: Piano Quartet in E, op. 20
performed by Yefim Bronfman, Cho-Liang Lin, and Gary Hoffman, or below by the Beaux Arts Trio This is another name we haven’t seen in almost exactly a year. Arenksy’s first symphony was in last year’s Russian Symphony Series, but we’d visited … Continue reading Arensky Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, op. 32
performed by Yamei Yu and the Leipziger Streichquartett, available here or in iTunes Gustav Allan Pettersson was born on 19 September 1911, “the youngest of four children of a violent, alcoholic blacksmith… at the manor of Granhammar in Västra Ryd parish in … Continue reading Gustav Allan Pettersson: Violin Concerto no. 1 for violin and string quartet
It was almost six months ago to the day that I first knew that the Quatuor Diotima would be visiting Taiwan, and that was the same week I posted an article I spent a lot of time preparing for, only to share … Continue reading Quatuor Diotima in Taipei
performed by the Uppsala Kammarsolister Per August Ölander was born 8 January, 1824 in Linkoping. His father was an organist. He studied at Uppsala University, and owed something of his career to support from his father-in-law, Johan Erik Nord Blom, Director … Continue reading Per August Ölander: String Sextet
performed by: Bernt Lysell, violin Björn Sjögren, viola Lucia Negro, piano First things first. Do note that this piano trio is for violin, viola, and piano, with no cello. You’ll notice in the recording. Also, it’s an extra installment of our SQS on … Continue reading Lindblad Piano Trio in G minor, Op.10