# Your top 5 Mozart Chamber Music Pieces



## Bwv 1080 (Dec 31, 2018)

Your top 5 Mozart Chamber Music Pieces, one per genre (string quartet, violin sonata etc)? 

In no order
Clarinet Quintet K581
String Quintet C K515
String Quartet Eb K428
Piano Quartet #1 K478

not sure on the last, maybe the Violin Sonata K377


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

A tough one - much easier to list my top 5 Mozart PCs

no order

K452 - pf quintet
k516 - g minor quintet
k563 - string trio
k581- clar quintet
k421 - d minor qt


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Clarinet Quintet
Quintet for Piano and Winds
String Quintet K 515
String Quintet K 516
Piano Quartet K 478


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Bwv 1080 said:


> Your top 5 Mozart Chamber Music Pieces, one per genre (string quartet, violin sonata etc)?
> 
> In no order
> Clarinet Quintet K581
> ...


Could you change the title please, to "not well known and widely appreciated chamber music?" I want to make a discovery like I did with K 334. Stomanek - help!


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

Mandryka said:


> Could you change the title please, to "not well known and widely appreciated chamber music?" I want to make a discovery like I did with K 334. Stomanek - help!


OK can help out there

Oboe Quartet k370
Flute quartet no 1 k285
Horn Quintet k407
Duo for Violin/Viola no 1 k423
Violin Sonata k526


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

stomanek said:


> OK can help out there
> 
> Oboe Quartet k370
> Flute quartet no 1 k285
> ...


I knew you would!


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

String quintet k516
string quartet k421
divertimento k563
piano trio k496
piano quartet k478
violin sonata k304
...is that 5? I like strings!


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

A tough question, especially if sticking to one work per genre as the OP requested. The String Quintet k 516 is my absolute favorite Mozart chamber work, the Piano Quartet k478 is up there too, and I've found the E-flat String Quartet K. 428 to be exceptional, been recently listening to it after reading about it in Rosen's book.

Rosen references k428 when describing how Mozart was a master of outlining a tonality without actually sounding the tonic chord:

_"The balance of harmonic relations needed to achieve this stability is a delicate one, but even the most dissonant material was dealt with by Mozart with an ease which is itself the outward sign of the harmonic equilibrium. The opening of the E-flat Quartet K. 428 shows how widely Mozart could range without losing the harmonic sense. The opening measure is an example of Mozart's sublime economy. It sets the tonality by a single octave leap (the most tonal of intervals), framing the three chromatic measures that follow. The two Eb's are lower and higher than any of the other notes, and by setting these limits they imply the resolution of all dissonance within an E flat context. They define the tonal space, and the resolutions trace the fundamental tonic triad of E flat major. The melodic line is unaccompanied, but not unharmonized: it is given complete harmonic meaning by the opening octave. We hear all these chromatic alterations so resolved into a completely diatonic significance because of the resonance of that opening measure: the fact of the octave leap is as important as everything that comes after. The 'unharmonized' chromatic progression is not only resolved, and harmonized by the first measure, but itself implies the harmonies that follow.

The fifth measure which outlines the chord of II against the tonic note, has already been defined by the melodic line. The dramatic effect of full harmony after a unison passage is in no way minimized by the impeccable logic.

This extraordinary power of Mozart's allows him to use a range of subsidiary modulation, of remote tonalities, in his expositions which Haydn generally had to reserve for the development sections...Mozart's more massive treatment of the tonal areas of the exposition often results in recapitulations that are symmetrically equivalent, in which the musical discourse that resolves is almost a literal transposition of the pattern that established the initial tension. The large-scale symmetry is mirrored in the rich symmetry of the details, so that the music seems to achieve a state of constant balance, untroubled by the expressive violence that nevertheless so frequently characterizes Mozart's work. The symmetry is a condition of grace."_


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

I haven't listened to Mozart's chamber music as in depth as I'd like. I tend to focus more on his concertos, late symphonies, operas, sacred music and piano sonatas. I'll have to listen to some of these pieces suggested and see if I can expand my list.


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## Guest (Jun 27, 2019)

String Quartet in F KV590
Piano Quartet in E-flat KV493
String Quintet in D KV593
String Trio KV563
Quintet for Piano and Winds KV542


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## vtpoet (Jan 17, 2019)

Kegelstatt Trio

I've always been partial to this fragment:






And this one:






There are also Mozart's Bach Preludes K404a -- My favorite playing is by Il Furibondo --- for now.

And then there's the Adagio and Rondo for glass harmonica, flute, oboe, viola and cello. K617


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

There's also unfinished String Quintet in A minor K515c






I think K379, K546 are among the most intriguing pieces, 
(if you count chamber string orchestra as a chamber ensemble, K546 could count as a chamber work. Except the coda of the fugue where the cellos and contrabasses split into two staves, it's also playable as a string quartet)

Listen from 4:30 










Listen from 2:40





a lot of slow movements from early quartets are expressive


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

No special order...

Clarinet Quintet K 581
String Quintet No. 3, K 515
Quintet for Piano and Winds K 452
Piano Trio No. 4, KV 542
Divertimento for String Trio, K 563


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

stomanek said:


> OK can help out there
> 
> Oboe Quartet k370
> Flute quartet no 1 k285
> ...


I listened to a good one today that I haven't heard for like 20 years, but it's very good - the wind quintet K 452. Rudolph Serkin used to make a bit of speciality of it, but no doubt there are more interesting performances since then.


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## Guest (Jun 28, 2019)

I recently listened to and enjoyed a recording with Stephen Hough and the Berlin Philharmonic Winds. There is also a PI version with Levin and the Academy of Ancient Music Chamber Ensemble, which I have listen to but don't really remember. Use of a forte piano would make a big difference, I would think. I think my official go-to recording is Schiff on Decca. It was part of the concerto series, but it is not in the boxed set, only on an individual CD release. The Melos Ensemble made a famous recording as well, no? It strikes me as a piece that is hard to play badly.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Baron Scarpia said:


> It strikes me as a piece that is hard to play badly.


I dunno. I just listened to one with Perahia and I thought it was not very good. On Qobuz

Vermeulen
Bavouzet
Ashkenazy
Lupu
Perahia
Brendel
R. Serkin
Tomer Lev
Yoko Kikuchi
Schuch
Gieseking
Didier Puntos
Penelope Crawford
Maria Nyberg
Roger Boutry
Jean Francais
Hough
Cassadesus
Michael Houstoun
Nash Ensemble

et j'en passe, too many . . . and I thought it was a rarity . . . either it's fun to play or Mozart sells whatever you do!


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## Guest (Jun 28, 2019)

Mandryka said:


> I dunno. I just listened to one with Perahia and I thought it was not very good. On Qobuz
> 
> Vermeulen
> Bavouzet
> ...


I haven't heard that many versions, maybe I've been lucky not to hit on a dud. I see Hough is on your list (the one on BIS with the Berlin Philharmonic Winds?) Worth a try. Maybe Levin/AAM is worth seeking out. I'd also be curious about Bavouzet, just because I like his Ravel.


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

Radu Lupu for me with K452. Have a lovely LP of it.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Bulldog said:


> Clarinet Quintet
> Quintet for Piano and Winds
> String Quintet K 515
> String Quintet K 516
> Piano Quartet K 478


I forgot about the oboe quartet - scratch the Quintet K 516.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

I'm going to plump for this one tonight


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

Bulldog said:


> I forgot about the oboe quartet - scratch the Quintet K 516.


you are putting the oboe quartet ahead of K516?

a fine little work it is - but


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

stomanek said:


> you are putting the oboe quartet ahead of K516?
> 
> a fine little work it is - but


There's no "but" for me. The 1st movement of the oboe quartet stands tall above any movement from Mozart's array of string quartets or quintets.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Mandryka said:


> I dunno. I just listened to one with Perahia and I thought it was not very good.


Interesting. For me, Perahia's is the best version I own.


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

Several versions of K 452 have been mentioned. My favorite is the warm presentation by members of the Vienna Octet---Alfred Boskovsky (clarinet), Willi Boskovsky (viola), Manfred Kautsky (oboe), Ernst Pamperl (bassoon), Walter Panhoffer (piano) and Joseph Veleba (horn). London/Decca


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## Guest (Jun 28, 2019)

Mandryka said:


> I'm going to plump for this one tonight
> 
> View attachment 120799


That one looks interesting...


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Baron Scarpia said:


> That one looks interesting...


And you're just looking at the back.


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## Bwv 1080 (Dec 31, 2018)

Goes without saying that HIP is the way the good lord meant this music to be played


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

Mandryka said:


> I'm going to plump for this one tonight
> 
> View attachment 120799


hmmm - shackled to the Beethoven quintet as usual


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

stomanek said:


> hmmm - shackled to the Beethoven quintet as usual


But it's a good and natural pairing. I prefer the Mozart, but Beethoven's is mighty fine.


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