Suggestions for good piano chamber music to study?

[beethovenfan01]

Hi all,

I've recently began acquainting myself better with chamber music, and I really love it now. Up to this point I've only played either, a, solo repertoire, b, in bands, or c, piano duets. However I will soon have many more opportunities to play small group music. I was generally thinking along the lines of piano trios and quintets, but of course I know there are other options as well.

So what are some good pieces to get my hands on over this summer that aren't, a, horrendously long, b, horrendously difficult, and c, aren't too hard to put together with an ensemble. Basically, good beginner chamber music. Of course I know that chamber music is its own animal separate from solo work, which is why I want to start easy. But this is something I've been wanting to try for awhile, but I just don't know the repertoire well enough.

Right now my favorite piano chamber pieces are Shostakovich's Trios 1 and 2 and his Quintet in G minor. I'm familiar the Brahms F minor Quintet but haven't been able to get better acquainted with it. I don't know quite where to look, beyond Shostakovich ...

Where do I start?

Thanks!

[visitor]

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[andrewuk]

The Mozart piano trios are lovely; then there's Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms (Ok, getting away from "beginner" level there...). There are also a couple of quartets by Mozart, and there's the 'Trout' Quintet, which is great fun to play.

For lighter music there are two books of "Palm Court Trios" edited by Peter Wilson, which have some nice, short (4-5 min) arrangements, and if you look on IMSLP you can probably find a lot more.

[afarmboysforte]

For trios, I'd start out with a mozart of your choice, as it's a great way to get to know your ensemble. After that, maybe one of the early beethovens. I happen to think that Shosty's First trio is a great beginner trio, but that's just me. The parts are not easy on their own, but they fit together well. Afterwards, take a look at Chausson's piano trio. This work really doesn't get enough time in the limelight as it should, and it's a great romantic trio that isn't too hard (easier than the Mendelssohns in my opinion).

My first quintet was the Schumann, and it really isn't too bad to learn or put together, as it was for a week long summer camp. A friend of mine also put together the dvorak quintet at the camp as well.

Honestly, a lot of people say take your time with easing into trios, but several of my friends (and myself) jumped straight into harder repertoire without taking our time. Maybe I shouldn't say this, but for me, jumping right into it worked out for me. My first chamber piece was Poulenc's Sextet for piano and wind quintet, an absolute gorgeous piece with quite a few nasty passages. We ended up putting together a very passable rendition of this, but this is just my experience.

So I guess, use your own judgement and see what you and your group want to do. For trio rep, check out this link for relative difficulties of the "standards" of trio repertoire.

https://www.cmnc.org/recommended/paTrio.htm

Best of luck with this!

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Astor Piazolla has transcriptions of his four seasons for piano trio.

The score is like a 50 piece each so if you're interested I can email you three of the seasons