Piano Quartet

The Gershwin Piano Quartet is a formation of four pianists who present their own arrangements of well-known works from the entire history of music on four grand pianos.

Robert Schumann, a versatile, well-educated young artist destined for great things, a man whose music has always amazed with its extent and profundity … and also a person of delicate psyche, which many a time led him to the very border between life and death. He composed the Piano Quartet in C minor, his first piece of this ilk, at the age of 18, and although, notwithstanding his original intention, he would never remake it into a symphony, he still had it on his mind some 20 years later: "I vividly recollect a passage in one of my works (1828), which I thought was romantic, with a spirit different to that of old music that appeared to me as though opening up a new poetic life." The Piano Quartet in E flat major, Op. 47, already attests to Schumann's compositional mastery, with its idiom inspired by Bach and Beethoven yet speaking in a clearly singular language. The 1853 Märchenerzählungen (Fairy Tale Narrations), was one of the composer's last happy creative upswings, written shortly before he attempted suicide by jumping from a bridge into the river Rhine with the aim to put an end to his unbearable mental torment. The Dvořák Piano Quartet's album spans the entire arch of Schumann's work: the beginning, the peak and the end. Just like all his music, it shows how immense beauty is often close to pain and suffering.

Robert Schumann, a versatile, well-educated young artist destined for great things, a man whose music has always amazed with its extent and profundity … and also a person of delicate psyche, which many a time led him to the very border between life and death.

The prizewinning Copenhagen Piano Quartet presents works by composers cosmopolitan and conservative, but each brimming with charm. German-born Friedrich Kuhlau was a leading figure in what posterity has dubbed the Danish Golden Age. From the outset, Kuhlau stated that he intended to write three piano quartets. With this new release, Kuhlau’s complete piano quartets are available in recordings by the young and rising Copenhagen Piano Quartet. Kuhlau declared his Piano Quartet No. 3 ‘my best to date,’ speaking of a large-scale work of drama offset by grace and highlighting the composer’s contrapuntal gift. Otto Malling was a Danish composer and organ player and the pupil of JPE Hartmann and Niels W Gade. In 1903 Malling wrote his one and only piano quartet, which was also his very last chamber work to compose. The work by ‘The Danish Saint-Saens,’ as he was affectionately called by some of his peers, presents a perfect picture of this master craftsman’s clarity and concision while showing tantalizing signs of his sensuality, too.

The culmination of many performances, and years of research into historically informed performance practice and period instruments, the Primrose Piano Quartet are delighted with this 2 CD set of Brahms’ magnificent works for the ensemble.
Recorded on location in Vienna – using a different nineteenth century piano for each quartet, and gut strings similar to those in use at the time – the ensemble felt inspired to let their hair down and give performances which are creative, imaginative and new.

The culmination of many performances, and years of research into historically informed performance practice and period instruments, the Primrose Piano Quartet are delighted with this 2 CD set of Brahms’ magnificent works for the ensemble.

The mature Antonín Dvořák vs. the teenage Josef Suk – a duel with two victors. Recorded at the Concert Hall of the Prague Conservatrory 2016. Works by Antonín Dvořák and Josef Suk – a teacher and his devoted pupil, the father-in-law and his son-inlaw – have customarily been performed together at concerts and featured next to each other on recordings. Yet that is all they have in common. Dvořák’s Opus 87 reveals the personal and creative maturity of the 48-year-old composer, who at the time was in the prime of his life. Soon after completing his quartet, the maestro assumed the post of professor of composition at the Prague Conservatory. This decision would prove to be fateful – yet not so much for himself as it would be for the 17-year-old Suk, who was one of the most gifted students of Dvořák’s selected class.

The prizewinning Copenhagen Piano Quartet presents works by composers cosmopolitan and conservative, but each brimming with charm. German-born Friedrich Kuhlau was a leading figure in what posterity has dubbed the Danish Golden Age. From the outset, Kuhlau stated that he intended to write three piano quartets. With this new release, Kuhlau’s complete piano quartets are available in recordings by the young and rising Copenhagen Piano Quartet.