Composers at their best in Chamber Music?

[Alan Howe]

It often strikes me that certain composers - usually unsungs - are at their best in their chamber music. One such who occurs to me is Robert Fuchs: did he write anything quite as sublime as the opening movement of his 1st Piano Quartet?

Have friends any other candidates in this category?

[febnyc]

Absolutely - tons of 'em.  Just a few:

Théodore Dubois
Arthur Foote
George Whitefield Chadwick
Heitor Villa-Lobos (on the strength of his marvelous String Quartets)
Robert Volkmann
Sergei Taneyev

PS - Agree about the Fuchs Piano Quartet

[JimL]

Villa-Lobos?  Perhaps the SQs are unsung...well, maybe he is frightfully underperformed for such an important composer.

[febnyc]

Well, yes, Villa-Lobos.  I wonder when was the last time a work of his was performed somewhere?  I couldn't say.  In all my years of concert-going I've never heard one live.

Anyway, I believe his 17 String Quartets rival those of Shostakovich for a body of 20th century chamber works.

[febnyc]

Hmmm - maybe I would add to the list Guy Ropartz.  While his symphonies are wonderful, the six string quartets probably interest me more.  I love their smell of the sea and the Brittany coast.

[eschiss1]

In my honest and strong but subjective opinion, Rheinberger...
Eric

[eschiss1]

Hmmm - maybe I would add to the list Guy Ropartz.  While his symphonies are wonderful, the six string quartets probably interest me more.  I love their smell of the sea and the Brittany coast.

I've only heard the 6th so far, but it's terrific.
Eric

[edurban]

The Villa-Lobos string quartets are wonderful but the best of V-L?  Better than the non-chamber choros' & Bachianas Brasileiras', and the ballets...? Perhaps you admire the concentration and economy of the quartets (two words that admitedly seldom pop up in a discussion of the V-L oeuvre), but really, someone who has only heard the quartets has a very limited and misleading picture of who V-L was.  The sprawl, orchestral excess and overreaching are part of the man and artist.  Of course, those are not qualities dear to everyone's heart, as they are to mine.

For myself, I would second Rheinberger, and add Thuille and Gernsheim.

David

[eschiss1]

The Villa-Lobos string quartets are wonderful but the best of V-L?  Better than the non-chamber choros' & Bachianas Brasileiras', and the ballets...? Perhaps you admire the concentration and economy of the quartets (two words that admitedly seldom pop up in a discussion of the V-L oeuvre), but really, someone who has only heard the quartets has a very limited and misleading picture of who V-L was.  The sprawl, orchestral excess and overreaching are part of the man and artist.  Of course, those are not qualities dear to everyone's heart, as they are to mine.

For myself, I would second Rheinberger, and add Thuille and Gernsheim.

David

Hard to say about some of these?-  more is available to hear now, even if now out of 'print' again, by e.g. Rheinberger (though more in some branches of his output than others; not even overtures, I think, to Rheinberger's several operas have been recorded) than from others (very little by Gernsheim at all so far I think- of an output of 100-odd works with opus no., an increasing amount of chamber music and five- six, possibly, including live broadcasts??- orchestral and concertante works have been, to my knowledge, recently revived- maybe a few more... I don't recall or even know exactly ) So having seen certain choral works (e.g. the Scene, "Agrippina", from 1881, around the 2nd symphony) by Gernsheim only in score, and voice/chorus/piano score at that (usually the scores at IMSLP...), I couldn't say how they fit in quality
Eric

[edurban]

The four Gernsheim symphonies can be heard in surprisingly fine performances on Arte Nova (considering that G. was hardly even a blip on the radar when they were recorded) and the cello concerto excellently done on Hyperion.  Very nice pieces all, but oh, those piano quintets and quartets!!! Absolutely masterful.  Equal, I feel, to any contemporary works in the same forms, something which (with all due respect and affection) cannot be said of the Gernsheim orchestral works so far recorded.  IMO.

David

[chill319]

I consider both the Stenhammar and the Bloch string quartets to be neglected high points of the literature, though I wouldn't suggest their best works in other genres are inferior.

[JimL]

Well, yes, Villa-Lobos.  I wonder when was the last time a work of his was performed somewhere?  I couldn't say.  In all my years of concert-going I've never heard one live.

Anyway, I believe his 17 String Quartets rival those of Shostakovich for a body of 20th century chamber works.

Well, frankly, if you're going to vouch for V-L's quartets, how about Nikolai Myaskovsky's?  Although I'm not familiar with all of them, I'm sure Amphissa has probably heard them all.  I don't know if they outshine his other works, but they are a considerable achievement to be sure.

[Mark Thomas]

Raff. Often the work in other genres of a composer who is tagged a "symphonist" is pretty much disregarded despite the fact that symphonies, even eleven of them, make up only a very small proportion of his output. So it has always been with Raff, at least outside the hallowed halls of this forum. For me, Raff is at his consistent best in his chamber music. To have produced such uniformly inspired sets as the four piano trios, five violin sonatas and two piano quartets is a huge achievement. Only the eight string quartets display the variability of quality within and between works which is, in my opinion, the hallmark of his symphonic cycle. His single contributions to the genres of String Octet and Sextet, Piano Quintet and Cello Sonata together with the pioneering Sinfonietta for ten winds match this high standard. Indeed, the Piano Quintet is arguably his best work in any genre.

[Alan Howe]

Thanks for all these thoughts. So here's a follow-up question: Can it be said that the unsung status of some of the best neglected composers is attributable to the fact that their best music is not orchestral, or operatic, or even choral, but chamber and instrumental?

[Pengelli]

Cyril Scott. The Chandos and Naxos cd's of his chamber music and instrumental music have had more play time in my cd player than any of the cd's of orchestral music. He seemed to express himself more eloquently in those mediums. There is a clarity and lightness that is missing from his orchestral music,and a far greater range of expression.
I would,also place it above his piano music,which passes the time very well, but,the sonata aside,tends to be somewhat forgettable.
I hope some of the enterprising small labels out there record more.