# The Chamber Music Thread



## Captainnumber36

Is quickly becoming my favorite genre to listen to. I would love to hear some recommendations on noteworthy works to check out, and particular versions if you have a suggestion.

I'll start with Bettina's favorite, Beethoven's SQ no 14:


----------



## Portamento

For starters:


----------



## MarkW

Beethoven, Quartet Opus 127 (Yale Quartet)
Brahms: Sextet No. 1 (Berlin Phil. Octet)
Brahms: Sextet No. 2 (Music from Marlboro)
Mendelssohn: Octet (Marlboro)
Schumann: Piano Quintet (no particular favorite)
Schubert: Quintet in C (lots of good performances)
Debussy/Ravel String Quartets (a common pairing, lots of choices)
Faure: Piano Quartets (I had the old Vox Box, still good)
Mozart: Wind Serenade in c minor
Spohr: Piano/Wind Quintet in E-flat 
Vaughan Williams: On Wenlock Edge (song cycle w/chamber ensemble)
Bartok: String Quartets (take your pick)
Wagner: Piano Quntet on Tunes from Meyerbeer (just joking)
Nielsen: String Quartet No. 4
Debussy: Sonata for Flute, Harp and Viola
Ives: Violin Sonatas
Janacek: "Mladi" (wind sextet)
Smetana: "From My Life" (string quartet in e minor (I think))

enough for now?


----------



## jegreenwood

Lots of recommendations in the Solo & Chamber Music Forum. 

Edit - Thread was moved to Solo & Chamber Music Forum


----------



## DiesIraeCX

My absolute favorite piece of music is Beethoven's Opus 131, string quartet #14.

I've heard some fantastic interpretations, but my go-to recording (and for all of the late and middle quartets, for that matter) is the *Takács* Quartet. Their interpretation, to my ears, is that of tenacity without sacrificing any of the emotion or depth. I also enjoy the *Italiano* Quartet's Opus 131, but sometimes I feel the piece's edges are softened. It's too "pretty" sometimes, and pretty isn't really what comes to mind when I think of my favorite body of music, Beethoven's late quartets. These pieces are bizarre, rough, strange, esoteric, whimsical, ethereal, beautiful, and profound. For this reason, I go with the *Takács*. It's a well-rounded interpretation that gets to the essence and core of the music.


----------



## Selby

Mod - could this be moved to the chamber sub-forum?


----------



## TurnaboutVox

Selby said:


> Mod - could this be moved to the chamber sub-forum?


Your wish is my command. :tiphat:

also:

*Anton Webern*
Two Pieces for Cello and Piano (1899)
Langsamer Satz for string quartet (1905)
String Quartet (1905)
Five Movements for String Quartet, op. 5 (1909)
Six Bagatelles for String Quartet, op. 9 (1911-13)
Sonata for Cello and Piano (1914)
Three Small Pieces for Cello and Piano, op. 11 (1914)
String Quartet, op. 28

*Gyorgy Kurtag*
String Quartet, Op. 1, 1959.
Jelek ["Signs"], Op. 5 (viola), 1961, rev. 1992.
Jelek, Op. 5b (cello), 1961-99
Hommage à Mihály András - 12 Microludes, Op. 13 (string quartet) (1977-8)
… quasi una fantasia…, Op. 27/1 (piano, cello, and 2 chamber ensembles), 1987-88.
Officium breve in memoriam Andreae Szervánszky (string quartet) - (1988-9)
Ligatura: Message to Frances-Marie (The Answered Unanswered Question), Op. 31b, (cello [2 bows]/2 cellos, 2 violins, and celesta), 1989.
Jelek, játékok és ü:zenetek ["Signs, Games, and Messages"] (violin, viola, cello, and double bass, in various combinations), 1989-.
6 Moments musicaux, (string quartet) (2005)

are some favourite chamber works of mine.


----------



## jegreenwood

The Schubert Quintet in C is the most beautiful piece of music I know. 

I've posted elsewhere but my two favorite recordings are the Alban Berg Quartet with Schiff and the Casals/Stern et al recording from the early 50's ('52 or '53).


----------



## jurianbai

I am foremost a chamber music fans. String quartet is my favorite, especially those come from the Classical era. As I am delved into the flute world, I begin listening flute chamber music since late 2015.

Fesca's Flute Quartet


----------



## Pugg

Just for starters .


----------



## Pugg

​Before the main course.


----------



## jegreenwood

jurianbai said:


> I am foremost a chamber music fans. String quartet is my favorite, especially those come from the Classical era. As I am delved into the flute world, I begin listening flute chamber music since late 2015.
> 
> Fesca's Flute Quartet


For me it's the clarinet, which I play for my own amusement (or frustration). For clarinet aficionados, two composers stand out: Mozart and Brahms. Between them, they wrote arguably 7 of the 9 best known works that feature the clarinet, and all but one are chamber music:

Mozart
Quintet for clarinet and strings
Trio for clarinet, viola and piano
(Plus a concerto for clarinet that has much of the appeal of chamber music)

Brahms
Quintet for clarinet and strings
Trio for clarinet, cello and piano
Two sonatas for clarinet and piano

Perhaps start with the two quintets. (The Mozart quintet became well known in the U.S. when it was featured in the final episode of the American TV series "MASH.")

You can look for recordings by Karl Leister, Martin Frost and Sabine Meyer among others.

The other two clarinet works that I think equal those of Mozart and Brahms are Schubert's octet (not generally thought of as a work for clarinet per se, but it's a great work with wonderful writing for the instrument) and Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Time," which deserves a post of its own.


----------



## Judith

Love Tchaikovsky String Quartet no 1 opus 11. Have it by Endellion String Quartet. 

Saw them live recently and they were amazing. Met them afterwards and got an autograph!


----------



## jegreenwood

At least one book has been written about the history of Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Time." Alex Ross, classical music critic for the New Yorker, wrote an article about it that begins as follows:

"The most ethereally beautiful music of the twentieth century was first heard on a brutally cold January night in 1941, at the Stalag VIIIA prisoner-of-war camp, in Görlitz, Germany. The composer was Olivier Messiaen, the work "Quartet for the End of Time." Messiaen wrote most of it after being captured as a French soldier during the German invasion of 1940. The première took place in an unheated space in Barrack 27. A fellow-inmate drew up a program in Art Nouveau style, to which an official stamp was affixed: "Stalag VIIIA 49 geprüft [approved]." Sitting in the front row-and shivering along with the prisoners-were the German officers of the camp."

http://www.therestisnoise.com/2004/04/quartet_for_the_2.html


----------



## Tallisman

Best starter list:
Complete Beethoven string quartets (the 10th is my favourite)
Schubert: String quartets 13, 14, 15 and the Quintet in C Major
Ravel: String quartet in F Major
Dvorak: American quartet
Borodin: String quartets 1 and 2
Mozart: Clarinet Quintet and the Quartets dedicated to Haydn
Brahms: Clarinet Quintet and Piano trio no.1


----------



## Tallisman

MarkW said:


> Wagner: Piano Quntet on Tunes from Meyerbeer (just joking)


Have you Wagner's wonderful 'Klezmer Quartet'?


----------



## stejo

Nice theads these of the string quartets, alway something new pops up.
I listen mostly to chamber music and instrumental concerts and for me the "base" of 
string quartets are Beethoven, they are masterly and on that time they where modern.
I´m also a big fan of Shostakovich music so I must propose the quartets from him.
But recently I´ve been listening a lot to Griegs string quartet Opus 27 which I fall in love to, I streamed all of them to compare,
but the Emerson quartet on Deutsche gramophone is the one in my ears, the quartet itself is very romantic and with a lot
of influences from scandinavian ( or Norwegian) folksongs, it´s the number one record for me this month.


----------



## Vaneyes

The genre is vast, as is the number of scintillating recs.

Four for your consideration. :tiphat:


----------



## Mandryka

Captainnumber36 said:


> Is quickly becoming my favorite genre to listen to. I would love to hear some recommendations on noteworthy works to check out, and particular versions if you have a suggestion.
> 
> I'll start with Bettina's favorite, Beethoven's SQ no 14:


Op 131 is a piece of music I've tried to get to know better through listening to lots of different performances. There are several recorded performances which mean a lot to me, with music of this calibre, where the most imaginative quartets have given their best, it's not surprising that there are a lot of very stimulating CDs. One is a very early one from the Calvert String Quartet, maybe the first ever recording. Others I think are really exceptional are the first Juilliard, on Testament; The Vlach Quartet; The Smetana Quartet's second recording on Denon; The Peterson Quartet; The Ébène Quartet.


----------



## Tallisman

Mandryka said:


> Op 131 is a piece of music I've tried to get to know better through listening to lots of different performances. There are several recorded performances which mean a lot to me, with music of this calibre, where the most imaginative quartets have given their best, it's not surprising that there are a lot of very stimulating CDs. One is a very early one from the Calvert String Quartet, maybe the first ever recording. Others I think are really exceptional are the first Juilliard, on Testament; The Vlach Quartet; The Smetana Quartet's second recording on Denon; The Peterson Quartet; The Ébène Quartet.


Ever heard this one? The second short second movement is divine in full orchestration and you can tell Bernstein agrees:


----------



## Pugg

​
The main course .


----------



## Heliogabo

Don't miss Brahms' chamber works. A true master of the genre. All of them are worth hearing.


----------



## Pugg

Heliogabo said:


> Don't miss Brahms' chamber works. A true master of the genre. All of them are worth hearing.


See page one.


----------



## Captainnumber36

Heliogabo said:


> Don't miss Brahms' chamber works. A true master of the genre. All of them are worth hearing.


Checking out Sonata no. 2 for Clarinet and Piano.


----------



## Pugg

Some Mozart belongs on the menu.


----------



## JeffD

The appealing thing about chamber music is that it fits in my living room. 

What I am trying to say is a chamber work takes place on a sound stage about the same size as the physical arrangement would take up, and so the feeling that folks are playing music for you is very very genuine. Because of that I find the intimacy is very real and very present. 

When I hear the completion of a chamber work, in my living room, I often feel like saying thank you.

A symphony or concerto, beautiful as it may be, is so much physically bigger than the sound stage of my living room, and so there is a cognitive dissonance there. How can all these sounds fit in here. It feels, as a result, a bit synthetic, a bit impersonal, like watching a movie at home. 

I did not notice this until I started listening to chamber works and wondered why it felt so... so right, so appropriate, so cozy, almost like hausmusik.

OK I am a nerd, I admit it.


----------



## Pugg

​And some Beethoven.


----------



## Pugg

​
Before dessert .


----------



## JeffD

Tallisman said:


> Ever heard this one? The second short second movement is divine in full orchestration and you can tell Bernstein agrees.


I respectfully disagree. The music is divine of course, but to me this is a kind of transcription. As if one were to write it out for flute and oboe. Its nice, but the original is nicer.

The four voices, and the simulacrum of power created by the four voices, is to me much more exciting than the actual power taking this piece to the whole orchestra. Its an interesting experiment, but not my favorite.


----------



## Omicron9

TurnaboutVox said:


> Your wish is my command. :tiphat:
> 
> also:
> 
> *Anton Webern*
> Two Pieces for Cello and Piano (1899)
> Langsamer Satz for string quartet (1905)
> String Quartet (1905)
> Five Movements for String Quartet, op. 5 (1909)
> Six Bagatelles for String Quartet, op. 9 (1911-13)
> Sonata for Cello and Piano (1914)
> Three Small Pieces for Cello and Piano, op. 11 (1914)
> String Quartet, op. 28
> 
> *Gyorgy Kurtag*
> String Quartet, Op. 1, 1959.
> Jelek ["Signs"], Op. 5 (viola), 1961, rev. 1992.
> Jelek, Op. 5b (cello), 1961-99
> Hommage à Mihály András - 12 Microludes, Op. 13 (string quartet) (1977-8)
> … quasi una fantasia…, Op. 27/1 (piano, cello, and 2 chamber ensembles), 1987-88.
> Officium breve in memoriam Andreae Szervánszky (string quartet) - (1988-9)
> Ligatura: Message to Frances-Marie (The Answered Unanswered Question), Op. 31b, (cello [2 bows]/2 cellos, 2 violins, and celesta), 1989.
> Jelek, játékok és ü:zenetek ["Signs, Games, and Messages"] (violin, viola, cello, and double bass, in various combinations), 1989-.
> 6 Moments musicaux, (string quartet) (2005)
> 
> are some favourite chamber works of mine.


Absolutely for the Webern works listed here. And also the Kurtag, a composer deserving of wider recognition. Nicely done, TurnaboutVox.

-09


----------



## Pugg

​
*Rachmaninov*: Piano trios.

Must have.


----------



## Quartetfore

This looks like a great release. I`m not a great fan of the music,but looking at the the players it seems I might have to change my mind.


----------



## Quartetfore

I should add that Trifonov played in the New York area last week, to great reviews.


----------



## Pugg

Quartetfore said:


> I should add that Trifonov played in the New York area last week, to great reviews.


His latest Liszt disc is also a must have , if you like Liszt and Daniil playing that is .


----------



## Quartetfore

Pugg said:


> His latest Liszt disc is also a must have , if you like Liszt and Daniil playing that is .


He seems to be the "darling" of the critics here in New York. They go overboard when his concerts are reviewed. A review that I read on a French site a while back thought that he is outstanding, but not the 7th Wonder of the Piano World. Only time will tell of course.


----------



## hpowders

Trifonov plays Scarlatti as if he's Chopin. Mannered!

He should stay with the Romantics. That's his wheelhouse.

Bach to chamber music:

Mendelssohn Complete Quartets, Emerson String Quartet.


----------



## Pugg

Quartetfore said:


> He seems to be the "darling" of the critics here in New York. They go overboard when his concerts are reviewed. A review that I read on a French site a while back thought that he is outstanding, but not the 7th Wonder of the Piano World. Only time will tell of course.


The guy is 26 years of age, and has a very great future ahead of him and believe me, not only New York has endorsed him, it's world wide.


----------



## Quartetfore

hpowders said:


> Trifonov plays Scarlatti as if he's Chopin. Mannered!
> 
> He should stay with the Romantics. That's his wheelhouse.
> 
> Bach to chamber music:
> 
> Mendelssohn Complete Quartets, Emerson String Quartet.


The Emerson recording is one that I like very much. There are several complete recordings that are quite good, the Mandelring Quartet and the Pacifica Quartet are right up there with the Emerson. It seems that the Mendelsson works bring out the best in the those that record them.


----------



## JeffD

My win-the-lottery dream is to throw a house concert, hiring a noted string quartet, and perhaps a scholar/lecturer, to do a bit of background and Q&A before hand. I can't think of a better evening.

I would, of course need a nicer house. But hey, I win the lottery first, right?


----------



## Quartetfore

JeffD said:


> My win-the-lottery dream is to throw a house concert, hiring a noted string quartet, and perhaps a scholar/lecturer, to do a bit of background and Q&A before hand. I can't think of a better evening.
> 
> I would, of course need a nicer house. But hey, I win the lottery first, right?


Good luck on that, I buy a "Mega" once a week. So far I am batting zero!


----------



## Vaneyes

By popular demand, four favorite *Brahms *chamber recs. :tiphat:


----------



## Quartetfore

I have the Emerson Brahms--very good indeed


----------



## Pugg

​Spinning now, cost next to nothing, wonderful.


----------



## JeffD

Quartetfore said:


> Good luck on that, I buy a "Mega" once a week. So far I am batting zero!


Yea, I hear ya. More likely is I will tax refund, upgrade my speakers, invite friends over for pizza, and play a CD.

"Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp,
Or what's a heaven for?"


----------



## Xaltotun

All Haydn string quartets - or, in a pinch, all from op.20 on. I've been seriously addicted to these for a year!


----------



## Pugg

​Schubert: Arpeggione Sonata/Debussy: Cello Sonata / Schubert:Sonata in A minor 'Arpeggione', D821/Schumann: Stücke im Volkston (5), Op. 102

Mstislav Rostropovich (cello), Benjamin Britten (piano)

Captain, this one is essential. :angel:


----------



## Omicron9

Pugg said:


> ​Before the main course.


I'm digging this album cover.


----------



## Omicron9

Two of my very favorite Bartok works (Violin Sonatas 1 & 2).


----------



## Dirge

György KURTÁG: _Moments musicaux_ (2005)
:: Arditti Quartet [2008 Strasbourg Festival Musica, live]

Kurtág lifted these six movements from earlier works (mostly from the ongoing series of _Játékok_ keyboard pieces) and re-arranged them for string quartet for use as compulsory test pieces in a string quartet competition. They were so popular with players and audiences alike that Kurtág shrewdly and hastily made a suite of them, dubbing it _Moments musicaux_ for publication. Judging from the results of a Google search, the work has been adopted by a good many ensembles and is being programmed very frequently. Indeed, _Moments musicaux_ threatens to become the nonagenarian's "breakthrough" work, one that might appeal to listeners who find his other works to be too distilled and elusive-Kurtág for the fetid masses. The pieces are colorful and accessible by Kurtág standards, and they're also quite varied and contrasted (yet complementary). The fifth movement, "… rappel des oiseaux …," is a glimmering, shimmering study on harmonics that has a small life of its own, as I've seen it programmed apart from the suite.

A stellar live Arditti Quartet account of _Moments musicaux_ from the 2008 Strasbourg Festival Musica was recorded and made available as a free download at the Radio France Web site (or maybe it was at the Festival Musica Web site?) shortly after the Festival. The recording has long since disappeared from those sites but has been preserved for posterity at the StateWork blog site, linked to below.

http://statework.blogspot.com/2009/01/kurtag-random-sampling-of-spare-deep.html (you'll find a download link to the "corrected" files in the fourth comment)


----------



## hpowders

Brahms was the man! Piano Trios, Piano Quartets, String Quintets and Sextets, Clarinet Sonatas, Trio and Quintet.


----------



## Pugg

Omicron9 said:


> I'm digging this album cover.


And....did you dig enough?


----------

