Thread: 15 Greatest Chamber Works?

Well, here is a listing I found on ThinkQuest for the "15 Greatest Chamber Works", listed in chronological order:


1 - Wolfgang Mozart String Quartet in C, K465 "Dissonant"
2 - Joseph Haydn String Quartet in C, Op.76 no.3 "Kaiser"
3 - Ludwig van Beethoven String Quartet in F, Op.59 no.1
4 - Franz Schubert Piano Quintet in A, D667 "Trout"
5 - Franz Schubert String Quartet in a, D804 "Rosamunde"
6 - Ludwig van Beethoven String Quartet in B flat, Op.130
7 - Felix Mendelssohn Piano Trio in d, Op.49
8 - Robert Schumann Piano Quintet in E flat, Op.44
9 - Johannes Brahms Piano Quintet in f, Op.34
10 - Johannes Brahms String Quartet in c, Op.51 no.1
11 - Antonin Dvorák Piano Quintet in A, Op.81
12 - Antonin Dvorák String Quartet in F, Op.96 "American"
13 - Maurice Ravel String Quartet in F
14 - Béla Bartók String Quartet #2
15 - Dmitri Shostakovich String Quartet in c, Op.110


ThinkQuest 15 Greatest Chamber Works

I've my own list:
LvB SQ No.13
Brahms clarinet quintet
Brahms piano quintet
LvB Kreutzer
Tchaikovsky piano trio
Haydn SQ op.76 No.3
Rachmaninoff cello sonata
Rachmaninoff second piano trio
Medtner "epic" violin sonta
Bach's solo cello suites
Bach's solo violin sonatas
Lekeu's violin sonata
Faure's SQ
Faure's first violin sonata
Saint-Saëns first violin sonata
Dvorak's SQ op.105
Dvorak's string sextet
Tchaikovsky's sgtring sextet
Mendelssohn string octet
Could go on for hours.

I was, myself, definitely more than a little shocked when I viewed this list. Not for what is on there, but more so because I totally expected a handful of chamber works to be listed which were not. Some examples of what I would have considered "shoe ins" to be on this list were:

Schubert - Death and The Maiden String Quartet # 14

Schubert - String Quintet in C major, D. 956

Beethoven - String Quartet # 14, Op. 131

Mendelssohn - Octet for Strings

My choices:
JS Bach 6 cello sonatas
JS Bach Passacaglia and Fugue
JS Bach partita and sonata for solo violin
WA Mozart Adagio and Fugue C minor
Astor Piazzolla Fuga y misterio
Schubert Trout
WA Mozart violin sonatas
Beethoven cello sonatas
Vittorio Monti Czardas
Handel Concerti Grossi
Vivaldi L'estro armonico
Kreisler Libeslied
Kreisler Libesfreud

I know I'd squeeze in my list Mahler's Piano Quartet in A minor

Where is the DebussyQuartet, Ravel Quartet, and even the Piano Trio??

The OP list did include the Ravel Quartet but I prefer the Debussy.

Too based upon popularity I reckon - ie Dvoraks american is not his greatest chamber work

As I know little of pre 1800 chamber music yet, my greatest of only the 19th/20th centuries are- in rough chronologiocal order -

Schubert - Piano trio in Eflat m
Schubert - 14th String Quartet
Schumann - Piano Quintet
Brahms - Piano Quintet
Brahms - Piano Quartet in C Minor
Dvorak - 13th String Quartet
Janacek - 1st String Quartet
Janacek - 2nd String Quartet
Bartok - 4th String Quartet
Bartok - 2nd String Quartet
Martinu - Piano Quintet 2 - please please seek this out if youve not heard it yet
Ravel - Piano trio
Ravel - String Quartet
Debussy - String Quartet
Bax - Trio Elegiac

Bruckner's String Quintet.

Originally Posted by Sebastien Melmoth

Bruckner's String Quintet.

EXACTLY. I wonder how they missed that.
my top 15 list
Bruckner String Quintet
Schubert String Quintet
Brahms Piano Trio no 2
Brahms String Quartet no 2
Mendelssohn Piano Trio no 1
Chopin Cello Sonata
Beethoven F major String quartet Ruzomovsky
Beethoven E flat Major Piano Trio, Op 71
Arnold Krug String Sextet
Draeseke String Quartet no 3
Draeseke Stelzner String Quintet
Dvorak Piano Quintet
Schumann Piano Quintet
Dvorak String Quartet G major
Brahms String Sextet no 1