# Favorite number of instruments



## Arsakes

Sonata, duet, Trio, Quartet, Quintet ...

I like how three instruments like in Piano Trio make a lovely music. It is wonderful.
Which one do you like mostly?


----------



## violadude

I think four is the perfect balance, probably because it lends itself so well to good old four part harmony.


----------



## Crudblud

I'm a nonet man, myself.


----------



## Art Rock

The string quartet is by far my favourite chamber music group, so four.


----------



## Sid James

I chose quartet, as that's the chamber formation I listen to the most - well, string quartets are anyway.

But I equally like trios, esp. piano trios, and quintets (eg. a solo instrument + 4 strings).

Sonatas I don't mind but I'm generally not as crazy about those than the others above.

With sextets and octets, one type of instrument only tends to work with me better than mixed groups. Eg. Brahms' two string sextets, Mendelssohn's _Octet for strings _or Stravinsky's _Octet for Winds_.

But I don't have much exposure to septets except Beethoven's famous one, as far as I can remember now.


----------



## Kopachris

Septets and octets for me. Octets obviously because it's a simple doubling of a quartet, but I like septets with just one soprano or one bass as well.


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Such a weird poll! I finally went quintet.


----------



## Kopachris

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Such a weird poll! I finally went quintet.


Yeah, well, you're weird, so there!


----------



## ProudSquire

I'm going through an exploration phase of string quartets that I have yet to hear atm, so I voted for the quartet! :}


----------



## Bas

I voted for Quartet, cause one of my favourite pieces of chamber music is a quartet: Johannes Brahms Piano Quartet no. 3, opus 60, in C minor. One of the pieces that started my love for classical music in general, one of the first pieces I felt in love with.


----------



## Head_case

Quartet here too - no qualms about it. Preferably all of the same string family (i.e. string quartet)


----------



## Manxfeeder

I'm more of a quartet fan.


----------



## elgar's ghost

I have far more string quartets than I do any other chamber works - I'm assuming because more music has been written for SQs than for any other chamber set-up since the late Classical period - but I can listen to any configuration really.


----------



## Klavierspieler

Another quartet vote.

I'm surprised that there aren't any sonata votes yet.


----------



## neoshredder

As long as they are strings, I don't care how many of those instruments there are.


----------



## TrazomGangflow

I chose duets because my some of my favorite chamber music is in the form of piano/violin sontas.


----------



## Sid James

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Such a weird poll! I finally went quintet.


Is that cos of a certain composer's 'Six Bagatelles'...a piece that actually has the musical equivalent of a 'fart?' (& a pretty funny one at that!).



Crudblud said:


> I'm a nonet man, myself.


Spohr wrote a good one but nobody's heard it ...well some hard core chamber fans have, I did long ago, its a piece I eventually want to get a cd of. His violin concertos are good though.


----------



## mmsbls

I have more string quartets than any other chamber work, but that's primarily because there are so many string quartets. My favorite chamber works are generally quintets - Schubert's string quintet, Mozart's string quintet's, Boccherini's quintets and many, many piano quintets so I voted quintets.


----------



## Arsakes

Well, I have a list of great Trios of Haydn, Dvorak, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann and Shostakovitch ... They're fantastic music pieces. 
Even if quartets are more composed and attended, I prefer Trios to Quartets. They're mostly Piano Trios (Piano-Cello-Violin) but the Horn and other kind are also great. 

The interesting part as I said is to create such perfect music with just three instruments (Don't get me wrong I like Symphonies and Concertos more, but still..)


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Sid James said:


> Is that cos of a certain composer's 'Six Bagatelles'...a piece that actually has the musical equivalent of a 'fart?' (& a pretty funny one at that!).


So you dismiss his 10 pieces for wind quintet just like that?! 

And about the musical equivalence of a "fart," I don't quite understand what you're referencing.


----------



## Aksel

Quintet! Preferably brass. Or a nonet, with a wind and brass quintet combined with only one horn.


----------



## Klavierspieler

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> And about the musical equivalence of a "fart," I don't quite understand what you're referencing.


Think about old keyboards.


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Klavierspieler said:


> Think about old keyboards.


Regal and other primitive organs? Perhaps they do sound closer to a fart than the Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet.


----------



## Klavierspieler

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Regal and other primitive organs? Perhaps they do sound closer to a fart than the Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet.


No! Old keyboards and concertos.


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Klavierspieler said:


> No! Old keyboards and concertos.


Handel's Organ Concerti are indeed fart-like.


----------



## Klavierspieler

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Handel's Organ Concerti are indeed fart-like.


Harpsichord concerti.


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Klavierspieler said:


> Harpsichord concerti.


Yes it does sound rather like a fart, but I like it anyway.


----------



## Klavierspieler

Nevermind.


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Ah I remember now. HarpsichordConcerto said *Ligeti's* 6 Bagatelles sound like a fart.


----------



## neoshredder

We need more Harpsichord Quintets.


----------



## Arsakes

Stop ruining my thread with *** noises!


----------



## MaestroViolinist

Trios, they are fun, to listen to and play in. 

Though I agree, four is the perfect balance.


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde

MaestroViolinist said:


> Trios, they are fun, to listen to and play in.
> 
> Though I agree, four is the perfect balance.


Four may be the perfect balance but five gets better music.


----------



## MaestroViolinist

How does it get _"better music"_?


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde

MaestroViolinist said:


> How does it get _"better music"_?


Piano quintets, guitar quintets, clarinet quintets, wind quintets etc.

This is awesome:


----------



## Mercury

I'm a fan of sonatas, myself. I like music that I can listen to and teach myself to play, if I happen to like it.


----------

