Piano Quartet in D major op. 23

Par LEIVISKA HELVI. Finnish composer Helvi Leiviskä (1902-1982) created a broad-based output of orchestral works, solo songs and chamber music. Her style could be described as moderate modernism, deriving influences from multiple sources such as late Romanticism, Symbolism, Expressionism, Existentialism and Neo-Classicism. Leiviskä's output is characterised by philosophical and religious themes, images of nature and narrative structures. Many of her works focus on human existential angst and spiritual searching and growth. Helvi Leiviskä originally completed her Piano Quartet in A major op. 1 in 1926 but revised it a decade later, in 1935. Written for the traditional piano quartet lineup (violin, viola, cello and piano), the work is in three movements and has a duration of about 25 minutes. It features religious and ecstatic imagery such as may be found in French, German or Russian neo-Romantic styles. Leiviskä's Piano Quartet is considered one of the cornerstones of her chamber music output. Its early version was premiered in two parts at student recitals of the Helsinki Music Institute (the 1st movement in 1925 and the 2nd and 3rd movements in 1926). The revised version was performed in full by Timo Mikkilä (piano), Sulo Aro (violin), Ilmo Ranta (viola) and Pentti Rautawaara (cello) on Finnish radio in 1939. The work was also on the programme of Leiviskä's second composition concert in 1945, being performed on that occasion by Jussi Jalas (piano), Erik Cronvall (violin), Erik Karma (viola) and Yrjö Selin (cello). Two commercial recordings have been released (Finlandia Classics 2012 and Telos Music 2016). It is published for the first time 2022 with an extensive foreword by Susanna Välimäki. The product includes the full score (piano part) and a set of string parts. Duration: c. 25'. Have a look inside by clicking 'sample'. / Date parution : 2022-05-31/ Répertoire / Quatuor avec Piano

Par DVORAK ANTONIN. For several years following composition of his first piano quartet, Dvorák?s publisher Simrock pushed him to compose a follow-up piece in the genre. The work, written during a few short weeks in summer 1889, fulfilled Simrock?s wishes. With his op. 87, Dvorák delivered a challenging and mature work in which a mastery of form is combined with memorable themes and surprising harmonic turns, leading it quickly to conquer the hearts of both performers and audiences. The engraver?s model for the first edition is lost; but together with the first edition the autograph survives as a second source for our critical edition, with which Henle continues its series of Urtext editions of this composer. / Date parution : 2023-05-06/ Répertoire / Quatuor avec Piano

for piano quartet. Par DAVIES PETER MAXWELL. The two nocturnes were composed immediately after major surgery, against a deadline, and, despite the music sounding unlike anything I have written before, I decided to keep them exactly as they turned out. 2010 is a Chopin year, and I made this pair of nocturnes into a little tribute, after playing through and listening to most of his output. Never before had I composed under these drugged conditions – the musical dimensions were enormously exaggerated, with each interval and each phrase being elongated out of all proportion, and the whole few minutes filling the whole of time and space. The orchestration, for piano quartet, was influenced by the very neo-classical feel of the chamber version of the concertos, and the harmonic language very much the result of pondering Chopin’s very individual take on J.S Bach. They are dedicated to James MacMillan and Amelia Freedman respectively. Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (2010)/ Répertoire / Piano, Violon, Alto et Violoncelle

Vers la fin du 19ème siècle le quatuor avec piano a été établi comme un genre à part la chambre sophistiquée musique. Il n'est donc pas surprenant que l'éditeur Fritz Simrock demandé Dvorák pour une nouvelle contribution au genre.Le Quatuor avec piano deuxième mi bémol majeur op. 87 a été composé durant l'été de 1889 au cours d'un torrent de la créativité: 'Ma tête est si pleine, si un être humain ne pouvait écrire tout cela tout de suite! [...] Il est facile de façon inattendue et les mélodies tout simplement couler vers moi. Merci à Dieu! 'Ces mots pourraient décrire le quatuor lui-même, un travail avec le ton insouciance caractéristique claire et coloration nationaliste. La principale source de cette publication était la première édition (1890). / Piano, Violon, Alto Et Violoncelle