Piano Sextets (Liapunov etc.)

[ewk]

Hi all,

Some years ago, i discovered the lovely piano sextet by Sergei Liapunov. On further research, I only found the ones by Glinka and Mendelssohn (which are both by far not as good as the liapunov one in my opinion).
So do you know any other works for this unusual ensemble? One further point is for which kind of piano sextet the work is written – mendelssohn for example is scored for 1 violin only but 2 violas, a cello and a double bass – glinka uses a second violin instead of the second viola, as does liapunov.

If you only know the work by name and nothing more, a list is absolutely welcome to me – in case you know more about it, don't hesitate to write about it. For example i especially like the liapunov one for the wonderful 3rd movement (Nocturne): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il8hgLNN3QY&list=PL65F84647067B8456 – the sheherazade-like rhythm in the scherzo is nice as well.
However, it's quite difficult to play due to it's wide harmonic range, the nocturne is with 6 sharps and the opening movement with 5 flats. in addition (a common problem to piano sextets as far as I see it): as there is so little literature for piano sextets, you will most likely extend an existing quintet by a pianist if you want to play it – the "poor" cellist who has to play the double bass part will be relatively bored (as far as you don't come from a quintet with a double bass which is relatively seldom as I think). This is of course only a problem for amateurs who play it just for their fun – for a public performance or for a CD, you'll easily find a bassist...

cheers,
ewk

[JimL]

I believe there's one in A minor by Ludvig Norman (String quartet with DB).  It's in our archived downloads.

[Alan Howe]

Try this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_sextet

[cypressdome]

This must have been a favorite combination for the French composer Henri Bertini who wrote no less than six piano sextets.  All appear to be the same instrumentation: piano with string quartet and double bass. IMSLP has the parts for numbers 2, 3, 4, and 5.

[Peter1953]

Antoni Stolpe (1851-72) wrote a lovely Piano Sextet in E minor of which only the first two movements have survived. Wonderful music.

[ewk]

Try this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_sextet

Hi Alan,
thank you, I wonder why I didn't come across this link while researching. However it seems that quite many compositions of this genre are including wind instruments. I was thinking of something like piano + string quintet. But still there are some interesting works in that list, thank you!

I'm just listening to the Stolpe Sextet, it seems to be quite nice, thanks for the hint, Peter!

[eschiss1]

The Norman has also appeared on an LP (I think- might have been a CD) on the Polar label (different performers), by the way. I've listened to the MIDIs @ IMSLP of one or two of the Bertini (and some other chamber works uploaded there of his)- enjoyed those!

One can extract a larger incomplete list from e.g. Sextet category-crossed with category of works featuring piano (over at IMSLP). At present we have 41 work pages (tagged, not counting as yet untagged ones) meeting that description. (Some other works can be played as piano sextets, like Boisdeffre's septet in which the double-bass is ad.lib., so it can be played as a piano sextet instead.)

[JimL]

Was not the Concerto for piano, violin and strings in F-sharp minor by J. P. Pixis supposed to have been arranged from a piano sextet?

[eschiss1]

... hrm. I should have downloaded that when I had the chance I would use RISM's incipit-search, assuming they have some Pixis works in their collection ... (a very useful feature - sometimes _very_ much so, understanding limitations of course; transpose the opening five or six notes of a melody to C major or A minor, remove the accidentals, enter it into the right field in RISM-online's advanced search, and it'll do its best to see if it has a database-entry or two or two-hundred containing that pattern (give or take accidentals) transposed to some other key (or not), then look through its results- sometimes one actually finds what one's looking for. Hrm. Anyway. Sorry.)

(Actually, I seemed to recall it was from one of Pixis' piano trios.)