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chamber music favorites

03 Apr 05 - 06:08 PM (#1451160)
Subject: chamber music favorites
From: Dani

I have always enjoyed chamber music (usually of the 'cello-based variety) but I am extremely ignorant about the genre. I know what I like when I hear it, but don't really know much about it. My current favorite recording is "Evenings with the Captain"

(Not THAT Captain!" He's married now!)

which I really like. It's based on the tunes mentioned in Patrick O'Brian's books, and is really lovely. But I've mastered I-tunes and am having great fun digging around to make my own CD.

Can anyone recommend particular pieces or recordings to add?

Dani


03 Apr 05 - 08:28 PM (#1451252)
Subject: RE: chamber music favorites
From: Leadfingers

Since they decriminalised it , chamber music has gone to pot !!


03 Apr 05 - 10:01 PM (#1451324)
Subject: RE: chamber music favorites
From: Padre

Any Haydn string quartet
Schubert: Trout Quintet


03 Apr 05 - 10:29 PM (#1451342)
Subject: RE: chamber music favorites
From: Mary in Kentucky

I think you would enjoy this one. It's a piano, cello and violin. I fell in love with it when I heard Karl Haas explain that the melody is from an Italian folksong, starting on the beat of two. I searched in vain for a good recording, finally bought the only one available, and the sound is not great.

My latest goal - I spoke with a lady last month - is to get three local musicians to perform it soon (before the violinist moves away this summer). Our church has the finest pianist I've ever heard - professional quality. We also have a cellist (sp?) and another lady plays violin at many weddings locally. (this is a small town, and to have such talent accessible is quite rare)

I think you can hear it at this link using Windows Media. (I no longer have WM, so can't hear the link anymore. But I have the CD!)

Schubert: Piano Trio Notturno D


03 Apr 05 - 10:32 PM (#1451343)
Subject: RE: chamber music favorites
From: Mary in Kentucky

'Notturno' In E Flat Major, D.897, Op. 148 -- Schubert


04 Apr 05 - 03:43 AM (#1451439)
Subject: RE: chamber music favorites
From: Pauline L

Any chamber music by Beethoven, especially late string quartets. Anything by Bach for a small group of instruments. Vivaldi's work is popular and accessible.


07 Apr 05 - 12:28 PM (#1454501)
Subject: RE: chamber music favorites
From: Mary in Kentucky

I just remembered the quintessential string quartet. It's by Tchaikovsky and is probably the one you will hear whenever someone hires a string quartet for an event. There is also a cello and strings arrangement (as well as piano, guitar, etc.).

If you use the words "program notes" in your Google search (as well as the name of a particular piece), you can locate some interesting history of the piece.

A little copy & paste (I think it's OK in the music section??????) from here:


Quartet no. 1 in D major, op. 11 (composed 1871)

The name Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky does not usually come to mind in the context of chamber music. Only a relative handful of works constitute his contribution to the genre:   his three string quartets opera 11, 22, and 30; his piano trio, op. 50; and his string sextet, op. 70, to name the most prominent. Yet his claim as one of the pioneers, along with Alexander Borodin, in the development of the Russian chamber music tradition cannot be disputed. His quartets in particular, which incorporate nationalist qualities but are not mere embellishments of existing folk music, are often heard as harbingers of the style so magnificently realized by Dmitri Shostakovich in the twentieth century.

Tchaikovsky's "Quartet no. 1 in D major, op. 11" was written out of economic necessity at the urging of his friend and mentor, the conductor Nicholas Rubinstein. In early 1871, the two were trying to organize a concert of Tchaikovsky's works in Moscow, but could not afford to employ a full orchestra. Having only a few small-scale works at his disposal, including several piano pieces and a set of six songs, Tchaikovsky devoted most of February 1871 to the "Quartet op. 11." Although hurriedly written, it became one of his greatest successes. The "Andante cantabile," in particular, has had an active life of its own in several alternative transcriptions. In his diary, Tchaikovsky expressed pride that, while sitting next to the great writer at a performance of the movement, Leo Tolstoy wept.



Listen to the cello and strings version here:

Andante cantabile, for cello and string orchestra in D major (arr. of 2nd mvt. from String Quartet No.1)
Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky

No.2 on Disc 1
here.


**************************************

Then don't forget Borodin, a doctor and chemist. His friends preferred him to be sick because he wrote music when he was sick, worked in the lab when he was well. He also let women work in his lab! (my hero ;-))


Polovtsian Dances made popular by the musical Kismet.

His bio here.

His music here.


07 Apr 05 - 12:32 PM (#1454504)
Subject: RE: chamber music favorites
From: Mary in Kentucky

If you're interested, that link to the Andante Cantabile is the string quartet version. You can easily find the cello and strings version. If you have questions about particular recordings, go with the big names, Bernstein, Yo Yo Ma, etc.


07 Apr 05 - 12:54 PM (#1454524)
Subject: RE: chamber music favorites
From: Don Firth

Good recommendations.

If you like chamber music, you might also like some of the early music groups. One of my favorites is the Baltimore Consort.

Don Firth


18 Jan 12 - 01:40 AM (#3291958)
Subject: RE: chamber music favorites
From: Abdul The Bul Bul

My absolute favourite. Second movement here.

Schubert Quintet in C

Al


18 Jan 12 - 04:43 AM (#3291996)
Subject: RE: chamber music favorites
From: David C. Carter

Thank's Don Firth for the link to the Baltimore Consort.

I didn't know about them.Now that I do,I'll get on the case.

Abdul The Bul Bul,I've got the Schubert Quintet in C.
One of my all time favourits.It was good to see it being performed.

So thank's again to both of you.

David


18 Jan 12 - 08:25 AM (#3292076)
Subject: RE: chamber music favorites
From: Jack Campin

My favourite chamber music featuring the cello: Ravel's Sonata for Violin and Cello, and Elliott Carter's Sonata for Cello and Piano.

My favourite chamber work of all: Bartok's Sonata no 2 for violin and piano. Though it's so overwhelming that listening to it once ever few years is enough.