Piano Quintets

[ahinton]

A marvellous medium; notwithstanding the many so many wonderful examples, has it ever been represented better than this? - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKWhw-1ZbQ8

The composer's reputation in respects other than music is understandably questionable (albeit from a much later time in his life than when he wrote this), but...

[jayne lee wilson]

Time will never be wasted on Schnittke's sole example, or the two by Martinu, though your emotions might get a touch wrung out....

But the true buried treasure I have to offer is the OP.29 (1940) by... Enescu..... Stunningly adventurous, emotionally and musically wide-ranging at around 35' (in 2 parts of 2 movements each) it will reward the adventurous very richly indeed...

Further back, I love to delve among the (many) pages of Cesar Franck's Romantic masterpiece once in a while...

[verismissimo]

Not wishing to rain on others' parades, but surely the place to start with piano quintets would be Brahms? Or Schumann? Or Dvorak? or maybe Faure?

Wonderful all!

[ahinton]

Not wishing to rain on others' parades, but surely the place to start with piano quintets would be Brahms? Or Schumann? Or Dvorak? or maybe Faure?

Wonderful all!

They are indeed ad the Schumann is arguably the first really important work in that medium, but they're all far better known that Jayne's intriguing choices which deserve far more attention than they get - s is also the case with Weinberg's...

[cloughie]

Not excluding P&W Quintets, Mozart K452, Beethoven Op 16 and Rimsky Korsakov are all 'good to be alive' works.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

... the Schumann is arguably the first really important work in that medium ...

It is curious, isn't it: given the importance of works for Piano solo and String Quartet in the output of so many composers, nobody seems to have actually written a work which combines the two before Schumann? Quintets for Piano & winds as Cloughie mentions - Piano Trios and Quartets a-plenty, but not Piano and String Quartet. (Schubert got close, but violin, viola, 'cello, & Double Bass isn't yer orthodox "String Quartet".)

I don't know the Florent Schmitt - indeed, I am stuck to think of anything he wrote the Music of which I can remember. I shall endeavour to make room later today to change that situation.

[Pianorak]

Piano quintets anyone?

R3 - tonight at 19:30

Thomas Adès: Piano Quintet
Britten: String Quartet No 3
8.20: Interval
8.40: Elgar: Piano Quintet in A minor

Alasdair Beatson (piano)
Doric String Quartet

[ahinton]

It is curious, isn't it: given the importance of works for Piano solo and String Quartet in the output of so many composers, nobody seems to have actually written a work which combines the two before Schumann? Quintets for Piano & winds as Cloughie mentions - Piano Trios and Quartets a-plenty, but not Piano and String Quartet. (Schubert got close, but violin, viola, 'cello, & Double Bass isn't yer orthodox "String Quartet".)

Yes, curious indeed, especially when one thinks of the number of great works written for the medium after Schumann's (and yes, as you note, Schubert's ensemble isn't yer orthodox "String Quartet" - one wonders what possesses composers to include a double bass...)...

I don't know the Florent Schmitt - indeed, I am stuck to think of anything he wrote the Music of which I can remember. I shall endeavour to make room later today to change that situation.

You'll be rewarded! There's a fine sonata for violin and piano, s string quartet (with no sign of any double bass!) and, along with his piano quintet, what's probably his best known work, Le Tragédie de Salome. He was quite prolific and continued to write almost until his death aged nearly 88 just adfter completing his second symphony. f his ballet Le Tragédie de Salome, Wiki informs us that "The rhythmic syncopations, polyrhythms, percussively treated chords, bitonality, and scoring of Schmitt's work anticipate Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring" and that, "While composing The Rite of Spring, Stravinsky acknowledged that Schmitt's ballet gave him greater joy than any work he had heard in a long time, but the two composers fell out with each other in later years, and Stravinsky reversed his opinion of Schmitt's works". Sadly, Schmitt was quite skilled at making enemies and his pro-German sympathies from the 1920s onwards likewise did him no favours - but his work's getting to be better known these days and much of it's well worth investigating.

Anyway, back to piano quintets!...

[ahinton]

Piano quintets anyone?

R3 - tonight at 19:30

Thomas Adès: Piano Quintet
Britten: String Quartet No 3
8.20: Interval
8.40: Elgar: Piano Quintet in A minor

Alasdair Beatson (piano)
Doric String Quartet

Many thanks for drawing attention to this. The Elgar's a spendid work!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

...one wonders what possesses composers to include a double bass...

Well, having Corrado Canonici or Stefano Scodanibbio around must be an encouragement. Sadly, for very different reasons, no longer an option.

[Stanfordian]

Not wishing to rain on others' parades, but surely the place to start with piano quintets would be Brahms? Or Schumann? Or Dvorak? or maybe Faure?

Wonderful all!

Those French of the genre that deserve to be better known:
Saint-Saëns Piano Quintet, Op. 14
Pierné Piano Quintet in E minor, Op. 41
Vierne Piano Quintet, Op. 42
Koechlin Piano Quintet, Op. 80
Widor Piano Quintet, Op. 7

[Richard Barrett]

It is curious, isn't it: given the importance of works for Piano solo and String Quartet in the output of so many composers, nobody seems to have actually written a work which combines the two before Schumann?

Maybe it's that the two "components" are highly self-sufficient worlds as it is, so that neither is missing anything and thus "needs" the other to achieve completeness, which might be argued in the case of piano trios and quartets, and Schubert's lineup too, so that the piano quintet instrumentation could be imagined to have a certain "pedantry" about it (thus it's no surprise that it interested Brahms!).

[Bryn]

The work for the combination of the instruments concerned which I have most time for is not titled "quintet". No prizes for guessing which piece I am referring to.

[vinteuil]

... No prizes for guessing which piece I am referring to.

.
... I suspect it's Mr GongGong's transcription of The Dream of Gerontius...


.

[BBMmk2]

Time will never be wasted on Schnittke's sole example, or the two by Martinu, though your emotions might get a touch wrung out....

But the true buried treasure I have to offer is the OP.29 (1940) by... Enescu..... Stunningly adventurous, emotionally and musically wide-ranging at around 35' (in 2 parts of 2 movements each) it will reward the adventurous very richly indeed...

Further back, I love to delve among the (many) pages of Cesar Franck's Romantic masterpiece once in a while...

With referring to the two Martinu PQuins, just wondering what recordings to go for?