Recommendation required for a high quality chamber work.

[Stanfordian]

Zarebski's Piano Quintet - recently recorded on Hyperion but also by Argerich and pals at Lugano .

Hi Barbirollians,

Many thanks for your suggestion. The composer Zarebski is a new name to me. I'll make sure that I check out his Piano Quintet.

[aeolium]

As I don't know the Music for The Silly Little Mouse, I can't comment on whether DSCH's "beaverings" were in wasted or not. Perhaps if he had written more film Music, he might not have had time for the Twelfth Symphony?


Beethoven: Incidental Music to Coriolan, The Ruins of Athens, Egmont - or the Tenth Symphony?

I always wonder whether Haydn might have been able to complete his op 77 set of string quartets if he hadn't had to waste time on the blasted Seasons....

[Stanfordian]

Finland no good, eh!

I think some of Korngold's early chamber works at least fit into the parameters. The Doric Quartet have made recordings of the quartets.
His piano quintet dates from around 1920, while his Op 10 String quintet was performed in 1917. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_Wolfgang_Korngold Although he later went on to write film music, which he admitted probably saved his life, he started off as a classical composer, and in his final years he was still writing music in classical genres for concert performances.

Hiya Dave, Good shout and many thanks. I know Korngold's works quite well and I'm seriously considering them; especially the Sextet, Suite and his String Quartet No. 2.

[Stanfordian]

KA Hartmann (German) wrote a couple of string quartets in the 1930s, along with a shorter single-movement Concerto for String Quartet and Percussion. The first six of Krenek's (Austrian) 8 string quartets date from the period under consideration as well, and the 7th was written during WWII after he'd fled to America.

Hiya Kia,
Thanks very much for your suggestions. I know a number of the Hartmann and Krenek chamber works and I like them. I do wonder if they might be rather too challenging for a general audiance.

[Stanfordian]

This was the sort of thing I was thinking of:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfFxDVRWcmE

(From the G major Piano Quintet)

Hiya Don, Thanks. I've watched the clip and I like the G major Piano Quintet very much.

[Stanfordian]

I would recommend the Nonet by Louis Spohr as a fine example of the blending of string and wind instruments.
Although the Octet is better known, the Nonet is seldom played.

There is a good example played by the New York Fine Arts Ensemble which was on the Saga label.

Hs

Hi Hornspieler,

Many thanks for your sugesstions. I have a considerable number of Spohr discs but dispite considerable effort it does'nt do a lot for me.

[richardfinegold]

Writing a "serious" composition into which one has put a great deal of personal expression can be psychologically and physically exhausting—composers need breaks, with varying degrees of frequency. Writing lighter or less effortful music to pay the bills in the meantime is the best we can hope for; that way there is still a legacy of additional works that may not be "great" but merit occasional revival, where the most likely alternative would be none at all.

Also I'm not sure the conventional musical world is "wider" than the film world in any sense. In Shostakovich's case, it's quite likely that more people saw The Gadfly than heard the Tenth Symphony for instance. And while Shostakovich's concert music may have outlasted the films he contributed to, films that become "canonical" (or even "cult classics") eclipse all classical music for audience numbers & cultural influence.

My apologies to the OP if we have hijacked his thread with a discussion of film music vs "serious" Concert music.
I think that the opportunity to compose film can be a wonderful thing for a composer, quite beyond the obvious benefit of putting bread on the table. The Composers get to try out techniques, have the advantage of hearing their music played by real musicians (compare that to the fate of Schubert, who probably never heard a note of any of his symphonies performed), and perhaps can use certain compositional freedoms that they may not get if composing for the concert hall.
Many Composers who wrote film music later adapt their music for the Concert Hall; Dave provided many examples. My favorite works off the top of my noggin that were so created would be:

Prokofiev--Nevsky, Ivan The Terrible
Korngold--Violin Concerto (culled from various film scores)
RVW-Antartica
Corigliano-The Red Violin
Howard Shore--Lord Of The Rings music arranged for Violin and Orchestra (I've been listening to this a lot this week due to the Oscars)

I also enjoy some of the Shostakovich scores mentioned. As another poster noted, his actual film scores are superior to the 12th Symphony, which (along with the far better 11th) sounds like a film score.

[Stanfordian]

Hello there Stanfordian,

How about Othmar Schoeck?

1st String Quartet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9iNQd_kG_U

2nd String Quartet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pfu3v6wvp_8

Violin Sonata http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRQJ5JwHUNk

Best Wishes,

Tevot

Hi Tevot,

Many thanks. I'll certainly check out Swiss composer Othmar Schoeck

[Stanfordian]

Thanks to all the suggestions in my programme of music I’ve decided to go with:
First half: Pavel Haas’s String Quartet No. 2 ‘From the Monkey Mountains’
Second half: Dohnanyi’s Sextet for Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello, Clarinet and Horn.

[Dave2002]

Not 'should' - Just musing what might have been.

Ah! If only I'd organised my own life differently!

[Dave2002]

Thanks to all the suggestions in my programme of music I’ve decided to go with:
First half: Pavel Haas’s String Quartet No. 2 ‘From the Monkey Mountains’
Second half: Dohnanyi’s Sextet for Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello, Clarinet and Horn.

Some interesting ideas put forward in this thread, and I'll now need to look out for, and hear, the pieces you have selected.

Wot - No Jazz?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Thanks to all the suggestions in my programme of music I’ve decided to go with:
First half: Pavel Haas’s String Quartet No. 2 ‘From the Monkey Mountains’
Second half: Dohnanyi’s Sextet for Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello, Clarinet and Horn.

Good choices both, Stanf - hope it all goes swimmingly.

[Barbirollians]

Hi Barbirollians,

Many thanks for your suggestion. The composer Zarebski is a new name to me. I'll make sure that I check out his Piano Quintet.

There is a movement on You Tube I believe.

[Barbirollians]

The Haas quartets are terrific works .

[richardfinegold]

The Haas quartets are terrific works .