# 10 chamber music works you have listened to the most over the last year



## Waehnen (Oct 31, 2021)

Which are the 10 chamber music work you have listened to the most over the last year?

This is not a question of which ones are your favourites or which you think are the best or of the highest quality. Or which you would like to list to present yourself as a most advanced listener of curiosities.  This time I am interested in facts -- which 10 chamber music pieces you have listened to the most when looking at 12 months backwards.

My list would be:

Brahms: Piano Quartet no. 3, op. 60
Beethoven: String Quintet, op. 29
Schubert: String Quintet, op. posthumous
Schubert: String Quartet, no. 14, D 810
Beethoven: String Quartet no. 16, op 135
Beethoven: Cello Sonata no. 3, op. 69
Brahms: String Quintet no. 1, op. 88
Brahms: Piano Quartet no. 2, op. 26
Beethoven: Piano Trio 'Archduke', op. 97
Brahms: Piano Trio no. 1, op 8

Damn I am predictable, am I not? 

3 string quintets
2 string quartets
2 piano quartets
2 piano trios
1 cello sonata

I am surprised that the string quintet is nowadays my favourite chamber music genre!


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## Highwayman (Jul 16, 2018)

Bartók - String Quartet no. 4
Beethoven - String Quartet no. 14
Brahms - Clarinet Quintet
Brahms - Piano Trio no. 3
Brahms - String Sextet no. 1
Brahms - Violin Sonata no. 3
Dvořák - Piano Trio no. 4 "Dumky"
Dvořák - String Quintet no. 3 "American"
Mendelssohn - Piano Trio no. 1
Schumann - Piano Quintet


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## Philidor (11 mo ago)

Difficult .. I didn't write it down, so I can only give an estimate ...

1. Franck - Violin Sonata A major (also the arrangement for violoncello)
2. Mozart - String Quartet No. 22 B-Dur KV 589 ("2. Prussian Quartet) - was the Quartet of the Week in this forum
3. Schubert - String Quartet No. 14 D minor ("Der Tod und das Mädchen")
4. Schubert - String Quartet No. 15 G major
5. Schubert - String Quintet C major
6. Schubert - String Quartet No. 13 A minor ("Rosamunde)
7. Schubert - String Quartet No. 12 C minor ("Quartettsatz")
(Yes, I compared some recordings of Schubert's late chamber music, so the statistic is deformed as compared to my average)
8. Bach - Sonata No. 1 G minor for violin solo
(Same as for Schubert - comparison of some recordings)
9. Ligeti - String Quartet No. 1 "Métamorphoses nocturnes"
10. all string quartets by Bartók on par - also a comparison of some complete recordings ...
11. Schnittke - Piano Quintet
12. Schnittke - String Quartet No. 3


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## Waehnen (Oct 31, 2021)

Highwayman said:


> Bartók - String Quartet no. 4
> Beethoven - String Quartet no. 14
> Brahms - Clarinet Quintet
> Brahms - Piano Trio no. 3
> ...


You have listed wonderful music! Thanks! Interesting!


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Whatever I'm reviewing for my blogs. Some of the big warhorse quartets meant listening to over 50 (or more) different recordings. Luckily some made it easy for me by sounding awful, being turgid or having shocking intonation in the first movements so I could just skip-listen them. Helps that I'd already reviewed over half of them years ago (and all the biggest quartets) so I knew quite a lot, already.


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

I don't keep track of such things and rarely listen obsessively nowadays but very probably one of the quartets in the weekly quartet with the best candidates for many listenings being probably Beethoven's op.95, Mendelssohn's op.13 or Janacek's #2. Other candidates could be Mozart's quintets K 515+516.


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## Josquin13 (Nov 7, 2017)

In terms of those chamber works that I've most specifically focused on over the past year or so, it would be the following ten pieces,

--*Charles Koechlin, String Quartet No. 1, Op. 51: 



--Charles Koechlin, "Paysages et Marines", Op. 63a (the later 1950 chamber version of his 1917 solo piano work): 



--Charles Koechlin, Sonata for Viola & Piano, Op. 53--another neglected masterpiece: 



--Joseph Guy Marie Ropartz, "Prélude, Marine et Chansons": 



--*Prosper van Eechaute, String Quartet No. 1 "à la mémoire de Maurice Ravel", Op. 8: 



--Claude Debussy, Sonata for Flute, Harp, & Viola: Debussy: Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp, L. 137 - 1. Pastorale
--*Joonas Kokkonen, String Quartet No. 3:
String Quartet No. 3: I. Allegretto
String Quartet No. 3: II. Allegro
String Quartet No. 3: III. Adagio
--*Peteris Vasks, String Quartet No. 4: Vasks: String Quartet No. 4 by the Navarra String Quartet (Lincoln Center, 7 February 2019)
--W.A. Mozart, String Quartet No. 23 in F, K. 590, "Prussian" Quartet No. 3: Mozart: String Quartet No. 23 in F, K.590 "Prussian No. 3" - 1. Allegro moderato
--Anders Hillborg, "Kongsgaard Variations":
Kongsgaard Variations
Kongsgaard Variations

*Works that I chose for my weekly selection on TC's string quartet thread.

However, my most listened to chamber music CDs over the past year have been these four (each of which I'd strongly recommend),

--Nash Ensemble, Ravel chamber music, on Crd: Introduction And Allegro For Harp, String Quartet, Flute And Clarinet
--Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble, French Chamber music, on Chandos: Sonate for Flute, Viola and Harp, L. 137, CD 145: I. Pastorale
--Montreal Chamber Players, "Autour de la harpe", on Atma: Roussel: Sérénade pour flûte, violon, alto, violoncelle et harpe, Op. 30: I. Allegro
--Anne Sofie von Otter, "La Bonne Chanson"--French Chamber Songs, on DG (come to think of it, I may have listened to Otter's recording of Ravel's "3 Poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé" more than one or two of the works mentioned above): Anne Sofie von Otter: The complete "3 Poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé" (Ravel).


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Brahms - Clarinet Sonata no. 1
Dvorak - Piano Quintet, op. 81
Elgar - Violin Sonata
Mozart - Oboe Quartet and Clarinet Quintet
Weber - Grand Duo Concertante for Clarinet and Piano
Myaskovsky - String Quartets (on-going)
Ravel - String Quartet
Shostakovich - String Quartet no. 8
Walton - Violin Sonata
Weinberg - String Quartets (on-going)


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

Brahms: Piano Trio no. 2
Brahms: String Quintet no. 1
Brahms: String Sextet no. 2
Brahms: Clarinet Sonata no. 2
Debussy: String Quartet
Moeran: Fantasy Quartet
Mozart: Clarinet Quintet
Mozart: Quintet For Piano and Winds, K 452
Schubert: Octet
Vaughan Williams: Phantasy Quintet


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

Below are chamber works that I've owned on discs for years but had remained infrequently played; only during recent past months have I devoted listening time (much overdue) to these pieces in order to familiarize myself more with their content.

Maurice Ohana's Quatuor No. 3
Giacinto Scelsi's Yamaon
Einar Englund's Sonata for Violin & Piano
Stefan Wolpe's Piece in Three Parts
Sonata Concertante for Bassoon & Piano, by Nikos Skalkottas
Sonata for Four Horns, by Carlos Chávez
Iain Hamilton's Hyperion
Clarinet Quintet, by Wilfred Josephs
Morton Feldman's Durations 3
Duos for Three Woodwinds, by Wallingford Riegger

[worthy of 'special mention' is Louis Vierne's Symphonie No. 5, which I've excluded from above only because it is for Organ solo (anybody got a cathedral organ in their chambers?)]


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

Bulldog said:


> Brahms - Clarinet Sonata no. 1
> Mozart - Oboe Quartet and Clarinet Quintet
> Weber - Grand Duo Concertante for Clarinet and Piano


Which are youre favorite recordings for these?
Did you check out Weinberg's clarinet sonata (op.28)?


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## justekaia (Jan 2, 2022)

Beethoven: SQ op 130 
Mozart String Quintet K 516
Schubert String Quintet D 956
Brahms Clarinet Quintet op 115
Bartok SQ no 4
Shostakovich SQ no 8
Messiaen Quartet for the End of Time
Xenakis Tetras
Scelsi SQ no 4
G.F. Haas SQ no 6


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Kreisler jr said:


> Which are youre favorite recordings for these?
> Did you check out Weinberg's clarinet sonata (op.28)?


For the Brahms clarinet sonata no. 1, Leister on Orfeo.
For Mozart's Oboe Quartet, a Claves disc that was deleted years ago.
For Mozart's clarinet quintet, Emerson on DG.
For Weber's Grand Duo Concertante, Janet Hilton on Chandos.

Concerning the Weinberg, heard it a couple of times, seems excellent.


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

I have some candidates. I'm not sure if all of these got the most listening time over the past year.
1. Dvorak: String Quartet no. 13
2. Dvorak: String Quintet no. 3 "American"
3. Bach: Chaccone
4. Mendelssohn: String Quintet no. 2
5. Mendelssohn: String Quartet no. 6
6. Dvorak: String Quartet no. 14
7. Brahms: String Quintet no. 2
8. Brahms: String Sextet no. 2
9. Beethoven: String Quartet no. 16
10. Haydn String Quartet Opus 77/1


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## justekaia (Jan 2, 2022)

Josquin13 said:


> In terms of those chamber works that I've most specifically focused on over the past year or so, it would be the following ten pieces,
> 
> --*Charles Koechlin, String Quartet No. 1, Op. 51:
> 
> ...


josquin you are one of a kind. ropartz and koechlin are unsung French major composers and I try to collect all their works. ropartz's chamber music is out of this world, also try his sacred music. Koechlin I particularly appreciate in the works with piano.needless to say your contemporary selection with vasks and hiilborg is outstanding.


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## Josquin13 (Nov 7, 2017)

Hi Justekaia,

I agree, "unsung" is the right word. (Especially when you consider that Koechlin's symphonies have yet to be recorded in their entirety! I had hoped that Segerstam or Holliger would do them, but no such luck yet...) Though the discography for both Ropartz & Koechlin has greatly improved, thanks in part due to the Timpani label, and Hanssler's Koechlin box sets, etc.

In recent years, I've heard a lot of Ropartz's chamber music--beyond the CD that I mentioned above--such as his string quartets, violin sonatas, cello sonatas, etc., & I find that each work grows on me with repeated listening. The same is true for Koechlin's chamber music. Koechlin has the rare ability to match and blend various different instruments--whether it be woodwinds or strings, etc.--with a degree of skill that reminds me a bit of F. J. Haydn's in that regard, if that makes sense. (No wonder Debussy asked him to orchestrate his late ballet, Khamma.)

But I've not yet heard any of Ropartz's sacred music. Is there a CD or work that you would particularly recommend?

Like you, I especially enjoy Koechlin's solo piano works. Michael Korstick's remarkable survey gets a lot of playing time on my stereo (& in my car). But I also like pianist Christoph Keller's survey, too. Do you know Keller's Accord label recordings? At one point they were boxed, but the set is out of print & may be difficult to find now. (Though the individual CDs seem to be easier to locate.) I was lucky enough to find a copy on Amazon France years ago. It's a treasure. Two of the recordings that I linked to above come from this box set: the "Paysages et Marines" chamber version, with Keller & Ensemble Mobile Zürich, and Koechlin's Viola Sonata--both beautifully played.

I've also enjoyed getting to know Koechlin's 1914 Violin Sonata, in a recording by violinist Louise Chisson:






Speaking of French violin sonatas from that period, do you know Darius Milhaud's 1917 Violin Sonata No. 2? The sonata is not all that well known, which is why I mention it. Milhaud was himself a violinist, and knows how to write for the instrument. The only performance that I know (& like) is by members of Ensemble Polytonaal--the violinist Josef Malkin & pianist Marcel Worms--on Channel Classics:


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