Chamber Music

Fauré’s Piano Quartet No. 2 in G Minor: Exploring Dreams and Passions

by

Gabriel Fauré’s motivation for writing the Piano Quartet No. 2, in G minor, Op. 45 remains something of a mystery. There was no commission. The work appears to represent the composer’s personal exploration of the magical possibilities regarding an unusual combination of instruments: piano, violin, viola, and cello. Only Mozart, and a handful of other composers, had ventured into this territory. Arriving seven years after Fauré’s First Piano Quartet, the G minor …

Read more

Janáček’s “Mládi” (Suite for Wind Sextet): A Memory of Youth

by

Czech composer Leoš Janáček had just turned 70 when, in July of 1924, he composed the wind sextet, Mládi, JW 7/10 (“Youth”). In a letter to Kamila Stösslová, Janáček described the work as “a kind of memory of youth.” The four movement suite formed a musical reminiscence of his student days at the Augustinian monastery of St Thomas in the old Moravian city of Brno. For Janáček, these formative years were marked …

Read more

Mozart’s Flute Quartet No. 1 in D Major, K. 285: Music for a Mannheim Merchant

by

During the winter of 1777, Mozart spent three months in Mannheim, the German city which was renowned for having one of Europe’s most elite and cutting edge orchestras. Months earlier, the 21-year-old composer had resigned from a position which he found stifling in his hometown of Salzburg. Accompanied by his mother, he set out on a job hunt that would take him to Paris. Ultimately, the trip ended in disappointment. But while …

Read more

David Diamond’s String Quartet No. 3: From Adventure to Elegy

by

Rooted in diatonic and modal harmony, much of the music of American composer David Diamond (1915-2005) unfolds as a dynamic weave of contrapuntal voices. It flows in a seemingly continuous stream, in which one phrase opens into the next without resolution. Listening to this music, we are forced to celebrate the magic of each fleeting moment. Diamond composed his String Quartet No. 3 in 1946, shortly after the end of the Second …

Read more

Dvořák’s Piano Trio No. 3 in F Minor: Reaching a Creative Pinnacle

by

Antonín Dvořák had weathered personal tragedy and intense inner conflict when, in 1883, he composed the Piano Trio No. 3 in F minor, Op. 65. Dvořák began work on the Trio six months after the death of his mother, with whom he had been especially close. The premature loss of three of his young children was still a fresh memory. As a composer, Dvořák, who enjoyed the support of Johannes Brahms, was …

Read more

Osvaldo Golijov’s “Tenebrae”: Melismatic Echoes of Couperin

by

In Western Christianity, Tenebrae occurs in the final days of the Holy Week, and commemorates the sufferings and death of Christ. It involves the gradual extinguishing of candles, leading to a void of darkness. Metaphorical darkness, light, and space formed the inspiration for Tenebrae, a 2002 chamber work by Argentine composer, Osvaldo Golijov (b. 1960). (The piece was originally scored for soprano, clarinet, and string quartet, and later adapted for strings alone). …

Read more

Mozart’s String Quartet No. 21 in D Major, K. 575: Music for a Prussian King

by

In June of 1789, the 33-year-old Mozart began writing a set of six string quartets for Friedrich Wilhelm II, the King of Prussia, a passionate music lover and a fine amateur cellist. Mozart had played at the King’s Potsdam court during a tour the previous spring. Ultimately, Mozart was unable to fulfill the commission. After completing the first Quartet (K. 575), he became occupied with the opera, Così fan tutte. He returned to …

Read more