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Your Favorite Quartet/Quintet/Beyond

23K views 82 replies 62 participants last post by  Olias 
#1 ·
^That.

What is your absolute favorite quartet, quintet (strings or piano), or trio/sextet/septet/octet/beyond(!)?

One you don't enjoy?


Please, try to limit your answer to one.

OK, maybe two, if necessary.

Or three.
 
#4 ·
Sticking with strings only -- certainly Mendelssohn's Octet and Schubert's Quintet. I know, hardly original.

Since you said stick with one or at most two, I won't mention Beethoven's Quintet Op. 29, the Mozart Quintets (when their perfection doesn't make me fall asleep), and the Brahms Sextets. And numerous pieces for string orchestra, of course!
 
#7 ·
Here's a mine, one for each form:

Trio: Iannis Xenakis - Ikhoor (1978)

Quartet: Dmitry Shostakovich - String Quartet No 3 Op 73

Quintet: Richard Rodney Bennett - Concerto for Wind Quintet (1983)

Sextet: Gordon Jacob - Sextet (1956) for piano and wind quintet

Septet: Arnold Schoenberg - Serenade for seven players Op 24 (1920/23)

Octet: Edgard Varèse - Octandre (1923)

Nonette: Brian Ferneyhough - Terrain (1992)

Decet: Steve Reich - 2 × 5

(Can't think of any work for 11 players at the moment.. :( )

duodecet: Niccolò Castiglioni - Masques: a Book of Dances, Chorales, Symphonies and Phantasies (1966/1967)

/ptr
 
#10 ·
OOh - this is difficult.

I'm rather partial to a Clarinet Quintet or three.

Coleridge Taylor's
Brahms's
Mozart's

Shostakovich 8 of course
And Schubert's Quintet of course

Oops, is that 5 already.
Haydn Op.76.

OK - gun against my head - I'm taking Coleridge Taylor's Clarinet Quintet
 
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#14 ·
Limiting myself to one from each composer,

Quartet:
Beethoven Op. 130 in B-flat major (with Grosse Fuge)
Berg's Lyric Suite
Brahms's Piano Quartet in G minor
Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time

Quintet
Bruckner's String Quintet in F major
Schoenberg's String Quartet No. 2 in F-sharp minor (which includes a soprano)

Octet
Stravinsky's Octet for Winds

Nonet
Webern's Concerto for Nine Instruments
 
#21 ·
String Quartet: Beethoven #14 in C Sharp Minor, Opus 131
String Quintet: Schubert
String Sextet: Brahms No. 1
Piano Quintet: Schubert's "Trout" Quintet
Clarinet Quintet: Brahms
 
#27 · (Edited)
Solo - Bach E major partita for violin, I've muddled through the whole thing myself. I can't get enough of it.

Duo - Beethoven 5th violin sonata, Spring. I picked this because I've played it myself. Though there are a lot to choose from here.

Trio - Shostakovich Piano Trio no 2 Haunting, brilliant. I heard it live many years ago, it sent chills down my spine.

Quartet - Debussy Quartet, though so many to choose from. Ask me again sometime later and I'll give you a different quartet.

Quintet - Schubert Quintet in C, no contest.

Sextet - Schönberg Verklärte Nacht

Septet - Sorry, no choice

Octet - Mendelssohn

Nonet - Golijov Last Round is well worth listening to. I heard it live a couple of years ago, terrific. And now I have a recording.
 
#30 ·
OK, one or two each then: quartets: Haydn Op. 76 No. 4 ("Sunrise"); Beethoven Op. 131; Quintets: Mozart K. 516 (viola quintet); Schubert D. 956 (cello quintet); honorable mention, Brahms clarinet quintet; Sextets: Brahms Op. 36; Schoenberg Verklarte Nacht; honorable mention, Poulenc Sextet for piano and winds; Septets: Stravinsky Soldier's Tale; Beethoven Op. 20; honorable mention: Ravel Introduction and Allegro; Octets: Schubert and Mendelssohn. Nonet: Dvorak Serenade for winds.
 
#37 ·
Mozart trio K563
Mozart piano quartet K478
Mozart piano quartet k493
Mozart K464
Mozart K465
 
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