# Piano Trio vs String Quartet



## schuberkovich

These are the two heavyweights of chamber music. I am talking not about the repertoire available for each ensemble, but about the way the instrumentation works. 
Piano Trio has the bonus of the capabilities of the piano, and adds a contrasting texture. On the other hand, it can be overpowering (like a piano concerto) and feel out of place.
String Quartet is four voices, basically the ranges of an SATB choir, and all the instruments blend very well together. But - some may say that the texture is not varied enough.

I voted for SQ. There's something about having 4 equal voices blending together as one


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde

I voted string quartet and I'm regretting it already


----------



## ptr

Close call here as well, I don't see them as opposing.
But I have a closer relationship with String Quartets, so I voted such!

/ptr


----------



## Whipsnade

I love them both and the differences which you describe very well are why I'm glad they both exist.


----------



## Guest

Definitely piano trio!


----------



## violadude

karajan said:


> Definitely piano trio!


What?? I thought you didn't like piano quartets because you thought the string sound didn't blend well with the piano sound.


----------



## elgar's ghost

I like the piano trio for sure but it's definitely the SQ for me: 

a) I find both the freedoms and restrictions between the four related instruments more interesting as regards how composers over the centuries have responded to them, especially when attempting to break new ground.

b) more to choose from.


----------



## Novelette

violadude said:


> What?? I thought you didn't like piano quartets because you thought the string sound didn't blend well with the piano sound.


I'm also confused. Karajan stated that the string quartet was not preferred because of the very contrast of sound. I hardly think the viola [the normal addition in a piano quartet, I believe] adds _such_ a contrast that it diverges more so from the violin and cello than the piano.


----------



## Arsakes

Piano trio is a great combination, they're usually great. String Quartets bore me sometimes.


----------



## Guest

What can i say people? I enjoy Beethoven's piano trio... Recently too... I get hooked easily? I don't know... I enjoyed it...


----------



## Marisol

I voted for string quartets, in chamber music the piano does not blend well with strings in my opinion. Furthermore with strings alone the harmonies can be pure, however due to heavy vibrato this is almost never exploited.


----------



## KenOC

I guess I'm kind of glad there are both.


----------



## jurianbai

Because my main interest is in string quartet, I tend to see other form as 'competitor'. My experience with the other forms, piano trio (or whatever), mostly come in as a 'filler' to the string quartet disc. Including the quintets, sextets, woodwind form etc. Of course this is not true (as a filler...) and not healthy (..my way seeing it). For now I actually keen and love enjoy any kind of chamber music. The piano trio got some serious repertoire that I like, such as the Lalo's. 

When I listen to Piano trio, or quartet or quintet, I don't have that Abraham Lincoln's obsession, that every instruments need to be equal each other. In fact I like it if one of them dominating. Piano trio is pretty balance, but still most of it I still unconsciously focused to the piano and not even sure what the cello doing there. That's why I like the most is Violin and Piano sonata, my other favorite form.

For this pool, you know my choice...


----------



## Art Rock

String quartet for sure. Actually, I prefer piano quintets and quartets over piano trios as well.


----------



## Geo Dude

I love piano trios, but I had to vote for string quartet. Hadyn, Mozart, and Beethoven did me in.


----------



## Novelette

Haydn's piano trios are spectacular; every bit as good, in my opinion, as his string quartets! I don't find so much in Mozart's few piano trios, but Beethoven's are also extraordinary.

I chose string quartets, but piano trios only barely in second place, for me. It remains a great pity to me that so many composers of the mid to late 19th century and so on composed only a few of either genre [with a few notable exceptions]. If only Mendelssohn and Schumann had composed more of them, not to mention Brahms!


----------



## kv466

While I very much enjoy piano trios of all sorts, they always seem limited or incomplete in some way whereas a string quartet is very much whole.


----------



## LiquidCosmic

kv466 said:


> While I very much enjoy piano trios of all sorts, they always seem limited or incomplete in some way whereas a string quartet is very much whole.


I've never thought that Piano Trios feel incomplete, but I do sometimes feel that the piano ends up taking a backseat accompaniment position to the violin and cello. In my opinion, there is nothing better than a well written Piano Trio where the three parts truly feel like equals (e.g. Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Beethoven), but I voted for the String Quartet just because the repertoire is so much more expansive and there are just so many great String Quartets.


----------



## LindnerianSea

Piano Trios. There is a certain magic with the number three. On the technical side, I am able to distinguish the individual voices easier than those of string quartets.


----------



## Guest

Quartet for me! in general more to play with and more complex.


----------



## handlebar

Tough decision but I had to go with piano trio. Love them both though.


----------



## Novelette

handlebar said:


> Tough decision but I had to go with piano trio. Love them both though.


Agreed Handlebar, there's such a rich tradition in both. I would never wish to forgo either of them.


----------



## Novelette

Andante said:


> Quartet for me! in general more to play with and more complex.


It's interesting how the man composers cope with the limited acoustic color of an exclusively string ensemble. Is it any wonder that, for many, the string quartet was reckoned the ultimate test of a composer's abilities?


----------



## Neo Romanza

Piano trios for the fact that I _love_ the piano and it's interaction with other instruments.


----------



## Guest

Novelette said:


> It's interesting how the man composers cope with the limited acoustic color of an exclusively string ensemble. Is it any wonder that, for many, the string quartet was reckoned the ultimate test of a composer's abilities?


I will admit that for me the St Qt is the epitome of Music I even like Mozart's quartets


----------



## Novelette

Andante said:


> I will admit that for me the St Qt is the epitome of Music I even like Mozart's quartets


I like his string quartets, too!

[PS, don't tell anyone else... Oh wait...]


----------



## mtmailey

I like both but i favor the trios because of the piano with strings.Tchaikovsky has a great piano trio.


----------



## Jacred

Wow, tough question. Really depends on what mood I'm in, but I ended up voting for piano trio. I like the mellow sound that the piano adds to the strings.


----------



## hpowders

I'll be in the minority and favor piano trios. I love the Mendelssohn and Brahms Piano Trios and a few by Beethoven and Haydn.


----------



## Bettina

In general, I would say that I prefer piano trios, in part because I am a pianist and I'm biased toward that instrument. However, Beethoven's late quartets are among my all-time favorite works, so I guess it's hard for me to say with certainty which genre I prefer.


----------



## Kjetil Heggelund

It's a tie! Schuberkovich vs. Shostabert


----------



## poodlebites

I'm for the quartets, the combination of instruments sounds like they were meant to be played together, they balance and complement each other perfectly. With the piano it sounds also good to me, but it doesn't click as it does with the quartet.


----------



## Pugg

Another one : impossible to choose, like them both.


----------



## Omicron9

Doesn't it depend on the composition? Wouldn't it be akin to "solo piano, or full symphony?" Depends on the requirements of the composition. No?


----------



## PeterF

Both are often marvelous, but if forced to choose I go with the string quartet.
And there are also many wonderful piano quartets, piano quintets, string quintets, string sextets as well as septets, octets, and nonets..


----------



## Schumanniac

Difficult. I do like the variety of the trio, from the intimate works in the Brahms style to the almost symphonic scale in Tchaikovskys, but sometimes in the "conversation" between piano and string one sort of takes over often. Ultimately i'll go with the string quartets. With a full string section there seems to be a greater unity in the works, opposed to the contrast of piano & string. Quartets seem to have less of a range (imo) but the way each instrument is so intimately connected is what i love. The late Beethoven ones sometimes feel like a four-way counterpoint, each pulling in different directions, yet somehow in unison. Or the way they just seamlessly blend together, making the music sing and linger endlessly. 

Harmony vs range, i suppose


----------



## Xaltotun

The Piano Trio is more alive, but the String Quartet plunges the depths. Life with all its paradoxes and complexities vs. the unrestrained advancement of the spirit.


----------



## Tallisman

Triangle quintet


----------



## Sloe

Piano trio I want some variation in the sounds from the instruments.


----------



## Tchaikov6

It's not that I prefer the sound of the string quartet to the piano trio, it's just that it is generally a more written for group (Beethoven's 7-8 piano trios compared to his 16 quartets, Haydn's 45 piano trios compared to his 68 string quartets, Mozart's 6 piano trios compared to his 23 string quartets, etc.). I prefer these three composers string quartets to their piano trios- each with no competition. Perhaps it is because they had more chances at producing something great, or perhaps it was easier to write for string quartet... all I know if I had to choose between destroying all the piano trios in the world and all the string quartets in the world I would definitely choose piano trios.


----------



## hpowders

Bettina said:


> In general, I would say that I prefer piano trios, in part because I am a pianist and I'm biased toward that instrument. However, Beethoven's late quartets are among my all-time favorite works, so I guess it's hard for me to say with certainty which genre I prefer.


Bettinnnnnna!!!!! Come off the fence, darlin'. Dinner's on the table. It's getting cold, dear!!!


----------



## Manxfeeder

String Quartet. Judging by the date this thread was started, it only took me four years to decide.


----------



## Pugg

Manxfeeder said:


> String Quartet. Judging by the date this thread was started, it only took me four years to decide.


Come back in another 4 years and who knows......


----------



## AfterHours

Didn't Beethoven end this argument in 1826?


----------



## jegreenwood

Xaltotun said:


> The Piano Trio is more alive, but the String Quartet plunges the depths. Life with all its paradoxes and complexities vs. the unrestrained advancement of the spirit.


Although I enjoy both immensely, I voted string quartet, for something like the reasons Xaltotun states. It's probably connected with my overall greater interest in structure as compared with color in orchestral music.


----------

