Piano Quintet must hear

[giles.enders]

I have just spent several years researching piano quintets and know of but haven't heard, over 650 of them. Several are lost including an early one by Bartok.

Giles Enders

[eschiss1]

I have just spent several years researching piano quintets and know of but haven't heard, over 650 of them. Several are lost including an early one by Bartok.

Giles Enders

Earlier than the one that is known? That is interesting...

[Kriton]

I have in fact read that there were no less than 2 early piano quintets by Bartók considered lost. And then Berg is supposed to have written one full blown romantic quintet, before he turned atonal. Lost as well. The piano quartets / quintets by Mahler? Lost...

[JimL]

There is the early Quintet by Mahler which is a one movement work, and now I hear of one by Pieter van Anrooy, thanks to Ilja.  They just keep cropping up...

[Kriton]

There is the early Quintet by Mahler which is a one movement work (...)

I only know of an early movement for piano quartet which has survived, plus a piece of a scherzo, which probably doesn't belong to the same work. Also, I've seen a concert announcement from the late 19th century with a piano quintet by Mahler. There's supposed to be a violin sonata as well. In any case, they're probably not 'one movement' works, knowing Mahler...

[giles.enders]

Someone mentioned Zarebski, that quntet is deffinatly worth a listen.  Recently I bought the two by Gernsheim and think they are worth hearing.

Giles Enders

[Glazier]

Thanks for you contributions.

Through the good offices of a CD collecting colleague, I have had a chance to hear the Arthur Foote, and Taneyev and Borodin PQs.

The Taneyev is a stunner! Can't wait to hear other Russians of that time, esp Arensky.

[eschiss1]

The Edition Silvertrust pages list some piano quintets I hadn't thought of - Gouvy's, for instance - and reminded me of Goldmark's 2 quintets too, and of Andree's. I haven't yet heard them, but expect good things especially of Goldmark. (I haven't even heard Saint-Saens' early quintet yet, and I asked about it on rec.music.classical, I think, years back, when there several fewer recordings of it *g*. Well, soon.) I agree about the Taneyev; my favorite work of his, and that's not meant to damn with faint praise...
Rubinstein's piano and strings quintet (the G minor) has come in for criticism, I think, and I haven't heard it, but I imagine it's at least enjoyable in a good performance? I can't say for sure, of course.  Besides that (and Alyabyev's of course?) I think you have the 19th-c Russians covered... I think.
Eric

[Kriton]

The Taneyev is a stunner! Can't wait to hear other Russians of that time, esp Arensky.

Although you probably won't get disappointed, IMHO the Russian piano quintets don't get any better than the Taneyev...

Except, of course, for the beautiful Medtner quintet. Which, with its references to orthodox chant, is probably a lot more Russian than the Brahmsian Taneyev piece. Come to think of it, the Taneyev quintet doesn't sound Russian at all, to me...

[Kriton]

Rubinstein's piano and strings quintet (the G minor) has come in for criticism, I think, and I haven't heard it, but I imagine it's at least enjoyable in a good performance? I can't say for sure, of course.  Besides that (and Alyabyev's of course?) I think you have the 19th-c Russians covered... I think.
Eric

My turn to say 'not quite'; there are supposed to be piano quintets by
- Davidov (our cello concerto composer) and
- Gödicke (from the Konzertstück for piano & orchestra on Hyperion's Glazunov disc)
as well. I still haven't found recordings of those. And then there's the Catoire quintet on Aliud or Brilliant (same recording).

Being totally in love with Kapustin piano works, I can't wait to get my hands on his (huge?) piano quintet on Exton. But that's probably beyond the scope of this forum (neither 19th century nor very romantic)...

I don't know the Alyabyev quintet - how is it?

[eschiss1]

Rubinstein's piano and strings quintet (the G minor) has come in for criticism, I think, and I haven't heard it, but I imagine it's at least enjoyable in a good performance? I can't say for sure, of course.  Besides that (and Alyabyev's of course?) I think you have the 19th-c Russians covered... I think.
Eric

My turn to say 'not quite'; there are supposed to be piano quintets by
- Davidov (our cello concerto composer) and
- Gödicke (from the Konzertstück for piano & orchestra on Hyperion's Glazunov disc)
as well. I still haven't found recordings of those. And then there's the Catoire quintet on Aliud or Brilliant (same recording).

Being totally in love with Kapustin piano works, I can't wait to get my hands on his (huge?) piano quintet on Exton. But that's probably beyond the scope of this forum (neither 19th century nor very romantic)...

I don't know the Alyabyev quintet - how is it?

The Catoire is from 1914, so I emphasized 19th-century I suspect the Goedicke quintet is 20th-century too, but am not sure - will have to check.
(Alyabyev's quintet- is from 1818, is in E-flat, but I haven't yet heard it. I know of no earlier Russian piano quintets offhand. For some information on this composer see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Alyabyev but preferably see the article in the German Wikipedia and do some translation, I fear. The article in English is not at all extensive. There's a sound sample or two of the quintet at

http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=43:66044
from a CD of music played by Emil Gilels.)
Davidov's music I still haven't heard but would interest me, the quintet included. IMSLP does indeed have a piano quintet by him in score... (op. 40, 1884 in G minor.) -- http://imslp.org/wiki/Piano_Quintet,_Op.40_%28Davydov,_Karl%29

Eric

[Peter1953]

Rubinstein's piano and strings quintet (the G minor) has come in for criticism, I think, and I haven't heard it, but I imagine it's at least enjoyable in a good performance? I can't say for sure, of course.  Eric

Rubinstein's PQ in G minor, op. 99, is to me a most wonderful, Romantic, nearly 50 minutes lasting piece of chamber music, full of memorable, lyrical and subtle themes. The beautifully crafted work has great depth as well. It is definitely not just a showpiece for the piano, on the contrary, the dialogues between the instruments are fully in balance. Maybe I'm somewhat prejudiced, because Rubinstein is my favourite unsung composer. However, this PQ proves once more what a great master Rubinstein was.
I have the PQ coupled with Shostakovich's PQ in G minor, op. 57, by the Pihtipudas Kvintetti on the Eda label (1996). I think this is the only commercial recording available. Warmly recommended!

[Kriton]

The Catoire is from 1914, so I emphasized 19th-century

You said '19th century Russians', not '19th century piano quintets'...

Anyway, thanks for the Alyabyev update!

[eschiss1]

The Catoire is from 1914, so I emphasized 19th-century

You said '19th century Russians', not '19th century piano quintets'...

Anyway, thanks for the Alyabyev update!

Point!

[eschiss1]

Re the two Gernsheim piano quintets, just noticed that a Musikproduktion Höflich preface to the two of them is available online here - http://www.musikmph.de/musical_scores/vorworte/1016.html (in German and English).  May be of interest...
Eric