Please Don’t Shoot the Piano Player — He is doing the best he can. -Oscar Wilde

January 22, 2024, 7:00 pm

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Inside up right piano
Inside an upright grand piano

Starting with the earliest piano trios from Joseph Haydn, Bill will present the best of chamber music that includes the piano— piano trios, quartets, quintets, and more. The piano is a versatile instrument in the chamber music world. Pianists can be members of an established group or featured guests, and composers add them to compositions as the “glue” that joins instruments together. Mozart, Dvořák, and Brahms all wrote chamber music and then played “musical chairs” to fill the empty seat to join in on the fun. Chamber music written to include the piano continues through the 20th century with Bartók and Messiaen, and on to today with Joan Tower and her colleagues. Bill just touches the surface of this world, and will return to it in the future, so please, take care of our piano players!

Playlist

Episode 1

Haydn, Joseph: Piano Trio No. 9 in A Major
Tini Manhot, pianoforte; Andrew Manze, violin; Jaap Ter Linden, violoncello
5 Piano Trios H XV : 9-12, 25
Erato 91728-2
12:00

Haydn, Joseph: Piano Trio Op. 73 No. 2, Gypsy Rondo, I & II
Thibaud, violin; Casals, violoncello; Cortot, piano
Piano Trios / Alfred Cortot, Jacques Thibaud,  Pablo Casals
EMI 64057
9:46

Mozart, Wolfgang: Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, K. 493, I
Serkin, piano; Schneider, violon; Tree, viola; Soyer, violoncello
Mozart: Piano Quartets / Serkin, Schneider, Tree, Soyer
Vanguard 8007
10:31

Beethoven, Ludwig: Piano Trio in D maj, Op. 70 No. 1, Ghost, I
Stern, violin; Rose, violoncello; Istomin, piano
Isaac Stern – A Life In Music – Beethoven: Piano Trios
Sony 64513
6:36

Beethoven, Ludwig: Piano Trio No. 6 in B-flat major, Op. 97, Archduke, I
Ashkenazy, piano; Perlman, violin; Harrell, violoncello
“Archduke” Trio & Trio No. 7 In B Flat (1812)
EMI 47010 2
12:30

Episode 2

Schubert, Franz: Trio in E-flat, Op. 100, D. 929, I & II
Beaux Arts Trio
Schubert: The Piano Trios / Beaux Arts Trio
Philips 000660802
:50

Schubert, Franz: Trio in E-flat, Op. 100, D. 929, I & II
Beaux Arts Trio
Schubert: The Piano Trios / Beaux Arts Trio
Philips 000660802
22:28

Schumann, Robert: Piano Quintet in E-flat Major, Op. 44

Emerson String Quartet; Pressler, piano
Schumann: Piano Quintet & Quartet / Pressler, Emerson Qt
DG 445848-2
30:01

Episode 3

Brahms, Johannes: Piano Quartet in c minor, Op. 60, III
Heifetz, violin; Schonbach, viola;
Piatigorsky, violoncello.; Lateiner, piano
Heifetz Plays Schubert, Brahms, & Beethoven
RCA 61773
8:09

Brahms, Johannes: Trio for Clarinet, Op.114, III & IV
Collins, clarinet; Isserlis, violoncello; Hough, piano
Brahms, Schumann, Frühling: Trios / Isserlis, Collins, Hough
RCA 63504
8:52

Brahms, Johannes: Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano in E-flat Major, Op. 40
Bloom, horn; Tree, violin; Serkin, piano
Sextet For String Op. 36 – Trio For Horn, Violin & Piano, Op. 40
Sony 46249
29:35

Brahms, Johannes: Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano in E-flat Major, Op. 40
Bloom, horn; Tree, violin; Serkin, piano
Sextet For String Op. 36 – Trio For Horn, Violin & Piano, Op. 40
Sony 46249
1:54

Episode 4

Brahms, Johannes: Quintet for Piano and Strings in F minor, Op. 34, I (complete) & IV (excerpt)
The Cleveland Quartet; Ax, piano
Piano Quintet In F Minor, Op. 34
RCA 4954
15:41

Dvorák, Antonin: Trio for Piano and Strings No. 4 in E minor, Op. 90/B 166, Dumky
Ma, violoncello; Kim, violin; Ax, piano
Ma Kim Ax – Dvorak – Piano Trios
CBS 44527
31:19

Brahms, Johannes: Quintet for Piano and Strings in F minor, Op. 34, I (complete) & IV (excerpt)
The Cleveland Quartet; Ax, piano
Piano Quintet In F Minor, Op. 34
RCA 4954
4:40

Episode 5

Ravel, Maurice: Trio for Piano, Violin & Violoncello
Thibaudet, piano; Bell, violin; Isserlis, violoncello
Ravel Complete Edition
Decca 001728702
0:51

Ravel, Maurice: Trio for Piano, Violin & Violoncello
Thibaudet, piano; Bell, violin; Isserlis, violoncello
Ravel Complete Edition
Decca 001728702
25:26

Messiaen, Olivier: Liturgie de crystal fr. Quatuor Pour La Fin Du Temps
Meyer, clarinet; Wang, violoncello; Chung, piano; Shaham, violin
Quatuor Pour La Fin Du Temps
DG 469 052-2
2:54

Bartók, Béla: Verbunkos (Recruiting Dance) fr. Contrasts
Goodman, clarinet; Szigeti, violin; Bartók, piano
Collector’s Edition – Compositions & Collaborations – Bartók, Bernstein, Copland, Stravinsky
CBS 42227
5:28

Copland, Aaron: Sextet, I
Juilliard Quartet; Wright, clarinet; Copland, piano
Juilliard String Quartet – 50 Years Vol 5 – Collaborations
Sony 62709
4:18

Stravinsky, Igor: Septet, I
Boston Symphony
Chamber Players Chamber Music
DG 2530 551
3:08

Tower, Joan: Petroushskates
eighth blackbird
Thirteen ways
Cedille 90000 067
5:48