# Composers of chamber music



## juliante

Welcome to junior corner 

I want to hear who are your top five composers for chamber music, all forms. Those that give you the most listening pleasure, those you return to most often and cherish. 

Chamber music is probably my favourite genre, so I have explored it quite a but I am a long way from feeling like I have a well rounded overview. So I would like to hear other people's most treasured chamber music composers, and why. My top 5 may reflect an incomplete view.... but I can't see it changing too much...! 

In order of preference: 

1. Beethoven: from the Razumovskys onwards, his quartets give me more listening pleasure than any other body of work in music. The there's the chamber duos...

2. Brahms. For the cello and violin duos, the piano quartets, the sextets....so many pieces that give me sensual delight...(is that a normal thing to say of Brahms...? we it's true for me.) Just shades Schubert for the variety...

3. Schubert. Death and the Maiden alone would put him in my top 5.... then there's the rest, nuff said. (Trout's never done it for me though...)

4. Haydn: the string quartet is my favourite form... so many gems across all opuses. 

5. Bartok: The quartets draw me back again and again, they are beguiling, fascinating, challenging but full of gorgeous sonorities and, not least, a deep emotional resonance. 

(Are piano sonatas chamber music...? I suppose they are but I did not consider them here.)

:tiphat:


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## Chordalrock

juliante said:


> 5. Bartok: The quartets draw me back again and again, they are beguiling, fascinating, challenging but full of gorgeous sonorities and, not least, a deep emotional resonance.


Check out Hilding Rosenberg's string quartets (on Spotify). Some of it is maybe more chromatic than Bartok, but a lot is rather similar and superb.



juliante said:


> (Are piano sonatas chamber music...? I suppose they are but I did not consider them here.)


I think piano sonatas count as solo concert music. I've never associated them with chamber music.

I like some stuff in Zelenka's trio sonatas. Some say they are the greatest trio sonatas from the Baroque era.

Antoine Forqueray can be great:


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## juliante

Chordalrock said:


> Check out Hilding Rosenberg's string quartets (on Spotify). Some of it is maybe more chromatic than Bartok, but a lot is rather similar and superb.
> 
> I think piano sonatas count as solo concert music. I've never associated them with chamber music.
> 
> I like some stuff in Zelenka's trio sonatas. Some say they are the greatest trio sonatas from the Baroque era.
> 
> Antoine Forqueray can be great:


Thanks for that - the Forqueray is great, there is something rocknroll about the bass line at the beginning! love it. What is that piece?


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## GreenMamba

Your list is a good one. I'd put Beethoven #1 as well. Not sure if I could order the next five.

Other names:

Mozart wrote a lot of great chamber music (the string quintets being my favorite).

Shostakovitch's string quartets are well regarded, but his Piano Quintet and Piano Trio #2 are probably my favorite works of his. The argument is often made that he didn't have to worry about pleasing the authorities as much in his chamber works.


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## Chordalrock

juliante said:


> Thanks for that - the Forqueray is great, there is something rocknroll about the bass line at the beginning! love it. What is that piece?


It's the last piece ("La Couperin") from his first suite for viol (in D minor). There's also a harpsichord version of that piece with the same title.


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## Art Rock

1. Brahms, no contest. So many masterpieces, first and foremost the clarinet quintet.
2. Schubert. Mainly for the string quintet (perhaps the most beautiful piece of chamber music), the later quartets and the octet.
3. Shostakovich. My favourite cycle of SQ's, and impressive other works as well.
4. Beethoven. Second-favourite cycle of SQ's, and a handful of violin sonatas I love.
5. So many others... (e.g. Mozart, Haydn, Mendelssohn, Dvorak, Faure)


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## Xaltotun

Here's my super conservative top 5!

1. Brahms
2. Haydn
3. Schubert
4. Beethoven
5. Mozart!


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## TurnaboutVox

I also think your list is a good one, juliante. No-one could deny the greatness of any of those as chamber composers.


My top five might be:

1) Beethoven (for everything he touched from the string and piano trios through the duo sonatas to the string quintets and late string quartets)

2) Schumann (for his three under-rated string quartets, clarinet trio, piano trios, quartets and quintet, the duo works for piano and violin, viola, cello, clarinet, oboe and horn)

3) Hindemith (String quartets, duo sonatas for violin, viola, cello and piano, and lots more I'm less familiar with but look forward to exploring)

4) Bartók (String quartets par excellence; violin solo and duo sonatas, mature piano quintet)

5) Kurtág (Works for string quartet; Signs, Games and Messages; Jelek; Hommage a R. Sch. for clarinet trio but there are many chamber works I haven't heard yet).

Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Faure, Debussy (despite a limited chamber music output), Ravel, Schoenberg, Webern, Bridge, Britten and Ferneyhough are, to me, also very important chamber music composers, though.


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## Bulldog

1. Beethoven
2. Shostakovich
3. Haydn
4. Dvorak
5. Weinberg


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## juliante

Thanks all so far - a reminder to give Shostakovich's and Schumann's oeuvres a proper listen and then 4 composers from whom I have not heard a note of chamber music (fourqueray, kurtag, hindemith and Weinberg. )


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## Pugg

Xaltotun said:


> Here's my super conservative top 5!
> 
> 1. Brahms
> 2. Haydn
> 3. Schubert
> 4. Beethoven
> 5. Mozart!


Nothing wrong with this.:tiphat:


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## Mahlerian

Leaving aside Bach, because chamber music really didn't become a category until the classical era, my own preference would be something like:

1. Mozart: String Quintets and Quartets, Violin Sonatas, the Gran Partita, works for various other ensembles
2. Schoenberg: String Quartets, Pierrot lunaire, the String Trio, the Serenade, the Suite for Septet, the Phantasy, and little gems like Herzgewachse
3. Beethoven: String Quartets, naturally, but also Piano Trios and the sonatas for violin and cello
4. Brahms: the Clarinet Quintet, the String Sextets, the Piano Quartets, etc.
5. Takemitsu: all sorts of wonderful works from Distance de Fee all the way up through A Way A Lone

Special mentions for Schumann, Haydn, Berg (so little, but all great works), Webern, Debussy, Ravel, and Stravinsky.


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## Antiquarian

I have similar tastes to those mentioned above.
1. Beethoven
2. Shostakovich 
3. Mozart
4. Haydn
5. Brahms 

I love Haydn's string quartets.


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## majlis

To me:
Brahms
Taneyev
Shostakovich
Faure
Ravel


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## Xenakiboy

This list will be incomplete for me but here goes:

Haydn (for obvious reasons)
Scriabin (if you want to count his mass of piano works)
Ravel
Webern
Stravinsky (I love Symphonies of wind instruments)
Schostakovich
Bartok (A MASTER of chamber)
Varese (the majority of his work is for chamber ensembles)
Messiaen 
Xenakis 
Babbitt (a bit of an oddball choice, but for similar reasons to Varese)
Kurtag
Rautavaara

(Of course I'd put Bach too!)


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## Sina

1. Morton Feldman: EVERYTHING!!!
2. Rebecca Saunders: Expert of deep, curious chamber works of odd instrumentations.
3. Tristan Murail: Along with Saunders (both alive and, thanks universe, many years ahead of them) are among those I dare to say I'm gonna love their future (chamber) works too.
4. Sofia Gubaidulina: Can't think of any piece I heard and didn't like.
5. Alfred Schnittke: String quartets and trio, piano quintet, cello sonatas, also Dialogue for cello & 7 instruments.


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## TurnaboutVox

Xenakiboy said:


> This list will be incomplete for me but here goes:
> 
> Haydn (for obvious reasons)
> Scriabin (if you want to count his mass of piano works)
> Ravel
> Webern
> Stravinsky (I love Symphonies of wind instruments)
> Schostakovich
> Bartok (A MASTER of chamber)
> Varese (the majority of his work is for chamber ensembles)
> Messiaen
> Xenakis
> Babbitt (a bit of an oddball choice, but for similar reasons to Varese)
> Kurtag
> Rautavaara
> 
> (Of course I'd put Bach too!)


But if you had to narrow it down to your favourite five, Xenakiboy...?


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## Heliogabo

I leave out baroque composers that I love, like Telemann and Vivaldi, and Bach of course, who composed a lot of great pieces, for the reason Mahlerian said.
So:

Brahms
Mozart 
Schubert (his late pieces are enough good stuff)
Beethoven (his quartets are a chamber)
Messiaen (only a few pieces but I think his chamber music is inside his orchestral work)

I miss here Haydn, Dvorak, Bartók, Stravinsky, Schoenberg and Shostakovich


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## Xenakiboy

TurnaboutVox said:


> But if you had to narrow it down to your favourite five, Xenakiboy...?


Kind of unfair for me because I LOVE chamber music but possibly this: (I'm indecisive)
In no particular order-

1 Bach (if I can cheat) or Webern 
2 Bartok 
3 Xenakis 
4 Stravinsky 
5 Haydn (if I can cheat again) or Shosty


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## TurnaboutVox

Xenakiboy said:


> (I'm indecisive)
> 
> Bach (if I can cheat) or Webern
> Haydn (if I can cheat again) or Shosty


OK!


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## SeptimalTritone

A selection of 20th century to contemporary composers:

Schoenberg, Webern, Feldman, Ligeti, Lachenmann, Xenakis, Pierluigi Billone, Ferneyhough, Ken Ueno, Ana-Maria Avram, Iancu Dumitrescu.

The last three of these names I'm recently getting into. I think they are highly recommended for anyone interested in the contemporary avant-garde. They produce some amazing chamber-instrumental-vocal-electronic sound structures.

I put Schoenberg on this list, just to advertise: GO LISTEN TO HIS STRING TRIO. It's an incredible above-and-beyond late work, in the sense that Beethoven's Grosse Fugue is an incredible above-and-beyond late work.


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## Xenakiboy

As I knew my list would be missing a lot, I missed:
Schoenberg (I haven't soaked up all his chamber works yet, but Pierrot Lunaire is one of my favorite pieces ever written) 
Feldman
Ligeti (I've been listening to him heaps lately, how did I miss him?)
Stockhausen (he does have some wonderful pieces for chamber ensembles, including the piano works and the Zodiac melodies! - another one of my favorite pieces!)
I'd like to say Lachenmann but I've only heard about 4 of his works.
Brahms

(Can't get into Ferneyhough at all, so not him)


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## juliante

Now I have _a lot of chamber composers to check out_


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## tdc

If we are leaving out Bach (though works like the Flute and Viola da Gamba Sonatas should be mentioned here anyway)

Then...

Mozart
Brahms
Bartok
Debussy
Ravel


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## Chronochromie

In alphabetical order:

Bartók
Beethoven
Debussy
Schoenberg
Schubert

And I'd like to give an honorable mention to Fauré.


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## Heliogabo

Chronochromie said:


> In alphabetical order:
> 
> Bartók
> Beethoven
> Debussy
> Schoenberg
> Schubert
> 
> And I'd like to give an honorable mention to Fauré.


Yes, Fauré chamber music is great!


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## micro

1. Brahms



2. Schubert
3. Mozart
4. Beethoven
5. Shostakovich
6. Bartok (I don't necessarily understand his styles, but his chamber music works are a new world)


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## Guest

Bartok, Scelsi, Dutilleux, Ravel, Kurtag.


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## juliante

dogen said:


> Bartok, Scelsi, Dutilleux, Ravel, Kurtag.


Kurtag again ... any recs?


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## Guest

juliante said:


> Kurtag again ... any recs?


I've not got it yet, but this is on my lust list:

View attachment 86181


Or the ECM one with the Keller Qrt.

It's very spartan music, like Bartok channelled through Webern.


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## Xenakiboy

dogen said:


> I've not got it yet, but this is on my lust list:
> 
> View attachment 86181
> 
> 
> Or the ECM one with the Keller Qrt.
> 
> It's very spartan music, like Bartok channelled through Webern.


I love '12 microludes for string quartet", very Webern!!


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## TurnaboutVox

dogen said:


> I've not got it yet, but this is on my lust list:
> 
> View attachment 86181
> 
> 
> Or the ECM one with the Keller Qrt.
> 
> It's very spartan music, like Bartok channelled through Webern.


I can thoroughly recommend this, juliante. There is such rigour, but so much austere beauty, in Kurtag's chamber music. This is for solo viola, with the exception of a brief vocal accompaniment.


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## juliante

dogen said:


> I've not got it yet, but this is on my lust list:
> 
> View attachment 86181
> 
> 
> Or the ECM one with the Keller Qrt.
> 
> It's very spartan music, like Bartok channelled through Webern.


Sounds highly promising! Thanks.


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## Avey

Here comes my response to the previous responses -- because it lends to the discussion...



Art Rock said:


> 1. Brahms, no contest. So many masterpieces, first and foremost the clarinet quintet.


I smiled at this (for real, SOL _smileoutloud_) because you are like _numero uno_ to post anti-Brahms quartet stuff. Thus, that not being wrong, I just want to make the point that *THAT is how great Brahms other chamber music is*, the clarinet catalogue, sonatas, sextets. It is telling.



TurnaboutVox said:


> My top five might be:
> 
> 5) Kurtág (Works for string quartet; Signs, Games and Messages; Jelek; Hommage a R. Sch. for clarinet trio but there are many chamber works I haven't heard yet).


*YEAH OK*



Mahlerian said:


> Leaving aside Bach, because chamber music really didn't become a category until the classical era


So key, yo.



Mahlerian said:


> 5. Takemitsu: all sorts of wonderful works from Distance de Fee all the way up through A Way A Lone


Also, agree.



TurnaboutVox said:


> I can thoroughly recommend this, juliante. There is such rigour, but so much austere beauty, in Kurtag's chamber music. This is for solo viola, with the exception of a brief vocal accompaniment.


*YO WHAT DID I SAY*


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## Avey

So, this if favorite right?

If you care:

*1 **Dvorak*. His quartets hit me like little other music. They remind me of certain places. I listen to them _intentionally_ in certain places. I hear them and _think_ of certain places. They are permanently etched into my mind.

Also, I really really think what he wrote for that form is completely without compare. Total specificity in form. He just _got_ it.

Although he doesn't have much else beyond those quartets/quins/trios, he has _Klid_, a sonatina, and _terzetto_ -- all of which makes me just unwind and sort of just melt.

*2 *Um, *ERICH WOLFGANG KORNGOLD*. Are you kidding? I am opting to _not_ cite my own posts on his masterpieces this time. I am slyly being humble. Not really. I am including the Symphonic Serenade, appropriate for chamber orchestra. Magnificent music.

*3 **Britten*. I once wrote, almost a year ago now (paraphrasing): I could listen to the third quartet, but I don't necessarily love it like the first, or even the second.

And now, here I am, finding the third quartet like something profound and preeminent among the form. No score I read more. And not in the least diminishing how _fun_ the first is, and how dramatic the next is.

 I admit that I am still digesting the cello suites/sonatas, even with several listens. But I immediately love them. It it just a matter of _understanding_ them. Big distinction (I think; do you?).

*4* *Beethoven*. It is hard to just ignore him, because the point is obvious. I get to hear the Rzky. Qs this Monday, all three. That is seriously a great program - OP. 59 ALL. If you are a classical fan, into _ATONAL_ or modern or _early music_ -- whatever. You see *ALL OPUS 59* on the program, and you are in shambles. I am, at least.

Also, his 13th Q. being one of the first pieces of music that I truly fell in love with, is beyond many others.

*5 **SCHUBERTIADE*. I could name something that I like listening to _over_ everything else Schubert wrote. But no other composer wrote more music in the catalogue that was just, well, precise and lovely and infinitely listenable.

When I turn the radio on and there plays his _Quintet (in C)_, I start thinking about how he could have written this piece alone, and nothing else, and he'd be up there among the greats. Why is the thing so fantastic? Why do I shiver listening to it? Why? BECAUSE THAT IS THE POINT YES?

Also, why is G Major Q. impressing? Why are the songs sort like just _right_? Why is the arpegg -- THIS FRANZ FELLOW HAD *IT *I THINK.

*Bonus:* And I hate sneaking later nominations, but *i am sneaky*so um, well, *Phillip Glass*, people. That 3rd -- no, that 4th -- no no no that _FIFTH_ quartet is like drawing me up and making me feel empowered. There is something in the arpegg-- no, in the repetition that is telling and personal. It is impressing upon the soul.

Gosh, also, the more I think about it, the more I hate who I left out -- Herr* Bartok*, *Hindemith*, um, and *MOZART*, who's music is probably more enjoyable than anything listed herein, but that, well, I dunno it just seems obvious, right?


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## Vaneyes

OPie, Bob Schumann's chamber is vastly underrated. Jus' sayin'.

Six to get you started--*Haydn, Mozart, LvB, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms*.


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## Marinera

Schubert
Haydn
Brahms
Mozart
^
These are chiseled in diamond

Others, carved in stone > Faure, Schumann, Ravel, Debussy, Mendelssohn, Chausson, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky.. probably missing some one, but this is more or less my top list

Ysaÿe, Franck..


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## Rhombic

Anton Reicha is an interesting one - historically transcendental, but seldom remembered


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## PeterF

Here are my top five in alphabetical order. Too difficult to do it any other way.

Beethoven
Brahms
Haydn
Mozart
Schubert

These would be next (honorable mention) - Mendelssohn, Schumann, Dvorak.


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## Haydn man

PeterF said:


> Here are my top five in alphabetical order. Too difficult to do it any other way.
> 
> Beethoven
> Brahms
> Haydn
> Mozart
> Schubert
> 
> These would be next (honorable mention) - Mendelssohn, Schumann, Dvorak.


Yes that about sums it up for me as well


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## Davila

Schubert
Shostakovich
Vivaldi
Bach
Mozart


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## Spawnofsatan

A lot of chamber music before the romantic era rubbs me the wrong way, don't get me wrong Bach and Vivaldi have their best work in that area but the romantic era added so much lyricism to the genre like Brahms and Beethoven's late quartets (for example). The 20th century introduced a new level of tightness to small groups of instruments, not governed by simply old restrictions of tonality, timbre and technique that makes a great portion of older chamber music seem almost inadequate. Just my opinion though


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