10 ESSENTIAL PIANO QUINTETS FOR BEGINNERS

10 Essential Piano Quintets for Beginners
Mozart: Quintet for Piano and Winds in E-flat major, K. 452
Beethoven: Quintet for Piano and Winds in E-flat major, Op. 16
Schubert: Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667 “Trout”
Schumann: Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44
Brahms: Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34
Dvořák: Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major, Op. 81
Turina: Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 1
Elgar: Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 84
Shostakovich: Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 57
Martinu: Piano Quintet No. 2 H. 298

[@Nyssa337]

“The horn is a bisexual instrument.” - 😂 As a horn player myself, I laughed really hard on that one.

[@craigkowald3055]

I am also a horn player and thought that was hilarious. For orchestral works of course, it's Mahler and Strauss, but for chamber, I usually prefer playing in a woodwind quintet. Brass quintets are fun too, as long as the trumpets are not too loud!

[@jimcarlile7238]

Yeah, the Elgar Quintet is definitely a killer, and I'm amazed that it hasn't been discovered yet. Whenever I put it on for people who think they hate classical music they always go, "What's that??!!" Everyone loves it, and it's also a great *makeout* piece from what I remember... I predict that someday it'll be as big as that Schubert Piano Trio you hear everywhere now. I think the old Ogdon recording is the best of them, too.

[@ThreadBomb]

Elgar's string quartet is also good, though rather strange.

[@mhc2231]

Dave -- I'm not exactly a beginner, but I just love these lists of yours. I always find something terrific that I'm missing, a hole in my collection and understanding (this time Turina and Martinu). I think you should re-name this series, "10 Essential xxx for beginners and everyone else."

[@fulltongrace7899]

The Martinu Quintet is amazing. The slow movement is my favourite. Dave is a great advocate for Martinu, the 20th century complement to Dvorak.

[@stevenmsinger]

There's a lot of really beautiful music on this list. Mozart's writing for winds is something very special and when you add a piano it's like no one else. Good try, Beethoven. Schubert's "The Trout" is one of my favorite pieces ever. It's so relaxed and fun - the exact opposite of his late death obsessed works. The Schumann sounds manic and just on the verge of getting unhinged. The slow movement of the Dvorak is very special. One of the most beautiful tunes ever. The Shostakovich is one of my favorites, too. It's so different from both his symphonies and most of his other chamber works. The way he writes for piano is almost Bachian. Great choices!

[@scp240]

Goodness gracious, I just attended the Marlboro Music Festival at Potash Hill on this very evening and what did they play? Brahms Quintet, with Mitsuko Uchida on the keyboard and a group of outstanding young musicians in the band. What a performance! The Scherzo! It rocks!

[@fulltongrace7899]

Mitsuko Uchida a favourite of mine. I have recordings of her Mozart and Beethoven piano concertos and Debussy piano etudes.

[@morrigambist]

I'm hardly a beginner, but I chose several quintets to check out. By the way, while on vacation many years ago in Charleston, SC, I heard an Italian family play the Brahms. The performance and the theater acoustics were both magnificent, worthy of this wonderful work.

[@tsult81]

Really informative and inspirational. More like this please. Many thanks indeed, now to dive in!

[@lewtaratua1719]

I didn’t know Elgar quintet until I saw this. So I tried Maggini / Naxos recording and deeply satisfied. I don’t know how to describe it in English. Jaw dropper, or Eye opener. Maybe Ear opener? Emotionally involving and touching. Thank you for the list. Next time I’ll try Turina.

[@steveschwartz8944]

Nice list, with surprises. I learned that the bass is from a different family than the violins, violas, and cellos. I had always wondered why it sounded rougher than the latter.

[@leestamm3187]

I recall reading somewhere that back in the old days a less skilled double bass player who frequently struck the strings heavy and hard with the bow was referred to as a "schuster," which is German for a cobbler or shoemaker. (Pounding on the strings as with a cobbler's hammer.) Not something most conductors are apt to like.

[@dianelewis4774]

I like to listen to chamber music when I'm driving. And no problem with adjusting the volume as with a symphony..

[@stv-hammond]

I love this. Thank you for sharing

[@stephenkeen2404]

Recommend the Argerich/Zilberstein version for the two piano version of the Brahms. Coupled with an excellent Mendelssohn First Piano Trio. Share your opinion of Mozart vs. Beethoven. I wonder if its due to Beethoven's relative youth, or Mozart's unsurpassed understanding on wind sonorities. Or maybe because Beethoven had a better piano, so he gave it more emphasis.

[@rogerknox9147]

These are major works and I agree that it's not a good idea to keep posting more and more quintets for beginners. At summer music schools I always loved it when the faculty string quartet and top pianist got together to play a piano quintet as the concert finale. And no greater work there was than the Brahms Quintet in F Minor. But I would start with other works on this list. And when you get to the Brahms, hold on for your dear life in the last part of the finale -- everyone has to!

[@hamidrezahabibi8111]

“The horn is bisexual instrument”… That was new and interesting description of the instrument.

[@murraylow4523]

That Mozart Quintet is one of his very greatest works (which is saying something!) So thanks of course for introducing many people to it :) I like the Schumann more than you, and even when you were singing the Brahms it sounded like Schumann, so whatever one thinks about the latter’s quintet it surely is one main reason that there were so many strings and piano ones afterwards. Not arguing though on the merits, but even that somewhat ridiculous fugato thing at the end is very exciting in performance…And somehow charming :)

[@carlconnor5173]

The Schumann is one of my favorites. The recording with Serkin at the piano can’t be surpassed, in my humble opinion. As to the piece, Schumann should’ve either given more thought to the Finale, or just left it at three movements. To me, at least, I’m satisfied with it ending with the 3rd.

[@dennischiapello3879]

I've only been familiar with four of these, and learning about the Mozart is a shock. I believe I will listen to each of these right soon, as I have a particular attraction to piano quintets and quartets. Thanks! Re Elgar, I can't be the only person who runs for cover when he hears the Pomp and Circumstance March (even the title is off-putting.) It's too bad he wrote it, because otherwise he wrote so much other music in the softly lyrical, English pastoral vein.

[@ThreadBomb]

To be honest, I've never got much out of the Mozart and Beethoven piano and wind quintets (I get more joy from the quintets of Spohr and Rimsky-Korsakov). Given that there are an infinite number of recordings of both works, I wonder if people could recommend the top pairings of the works on disc? Thanks.