HeArt of the Piano Quartet

OCTOBER 15, 2023

ESPRESSIVO! QUARTET

Anna Polonsky, piano

Jaime Laredo, violin

Milena Pájaro-van de Stadt, viola

Sharon Robinson, cello

Experience piano quartets by three great masters. The Espressivo! Quartet returns to perform works that display the prodigious talents of a teenage Mendelssohn, the story of Brahms’ ill-fated love, and the romance of Schumann’s enchanting lyricism.

Program Notes

Felix Mendelssohn | Piano Quartet in C Minor, Op. 1 

Felix Mendelssohn, perhaps more than any other composer, did not fit the romantic trope of a musical genius rising above his station through his art. He grew up the son of a wealthy banker, and his father regularly invited professional musicians to their home to present private concerts and join the family in informal music-making. No matter how comfortable his childhood may have been, young Felix was, undeniably, a genius, and these weekly concerts provided the perfect environment for his early talent to be recognized and nurtured. Between the ages of 11 and 14, Mendelssohn produced more than 100 compositions for strings, piano and orchestra. It was during this period of prodigious output that Felix, during a family holiday to Switzerland in 1822, composed—at the ripe age of 13—what would become his first published work, the Piano Quartet in C Minor, Op. 1. 

Mendelssohn’s Opus 1 showcases the talent of a young musician who has studied Haydn and Mozart and is ready to develop his own voice. The first movement, despite its lively tempo marking of allegro vivace, has its ominous moments. While a challenging piano part pervades the entire movement, each instrument is given its moments in the sun as Mendelssohn clearly establishes themes and elaborates upon them. The sweet sadness of the second movement Adagio grows profound with brief interjections of levity. Even this early example hints at the gentle lyricism that would become a signature of Mendelssohn’s later works.

The Scherzo’s brilliance and speed demand virtuosity from all four instruments—an early example of the light, fantastic scherzos that characterize Mendelssohn’s later works. As the Trio section shifts to a major key, the instruments are granted a brief reprieve with a slightly lightened pace before returning to the lively tempo of the movement’s opening. The final Allegro moderato demonstrates Mendelssohn’s true skill as a musical architect. Presented in sonata form, both themes present the same melodic material in different keys before diverting into the typical development and recapitulation and, ultimately, driving to a bravura finish.

In the Opus 1 we are presented with an all-too-rare example of a gifted young composer being afforded the resources to thrive at an early age. The result is a quartet with a knowing competence that belies the composer’s youth while also offering only a glimpse of the musical voice he would continue to develop.

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Johannes Brahms | Piano Quartet in C Minor, Op. 60

Understanding the personal history of a composer can often lend insight into their work. In some cases, these details hint at subtle undertones that might otherwise go unnoticed; in others—such as Brahms’ C Minor Quartet—the composer wears the influence on their sleeve to a degree that a composition serves as a musical memoir of that point in time. Brahms began composing the Quartet in 1855 during the later years of his complicated relationship with the Schumanns. As Robert was battling his final illness, Brahms was torn between his despair for his friend and his growing love for Clara. While Brahms ultimately set the piece aside before publishing a heavily revised version 20 years later, the emotional core of the work’s inception remains intact. As the opening movement’s turmoil gives way to exhaustion, we can hear the young composer’s passion even as the rougher edges have been tempered by the reflection of a more mature artist.

Structurally, the Quartet is balanced by two massive outer movements framing shorter inner movements. Yet there is an immediate unsettled quality that begins with the piano’s arresting opening octaves. As the piano gradually pulls the ensemble together for the assertive first theme, Brahms establishes a two-note pattern that plays a key role throughout the movement. The unusually lyrical second theme proceeds through a series of variations before leading into the development that revisits and deepens the original two-note motif.

The subsequent movements pick up on the moods that flitted in and out of the opening. The second movement is the added Scherzo. Fast, vigorous and intense, it forgoes the traditional contrasting middle section and instead leads without pause to a major key episode that re-establishes the prevailing mood of the movement. By contrast, the third movement presents a deeply felt slower theme that many interpret as Brahms’ declaration of love to Clara. Here, the first theme is presented as an extended cello solo before the rest of the ensemble enters to lead to the gentle, syncopated second theme. As the initial theme returns, it is presented by the piano in octaves offset by pizzicato figures in the viola and cello.

The fourth movement returns to the dark mood of the first. The first violin opens the movement with a 28-measure statement of the first theme accompanied by agitated eighth notes in the piano. The second theme, stated by the violin, continues this restlessness, but the third theme, a chorale-like strain in the violin and viola, provides some relief. The development is based largely on the main and chorale themes, spun out at some length with much of it marked “tranquil and always very soft.” In the coda, the piano hammers out the chorale tune in a strong C major, but a sense of fatalism persists, and the Quartet ends on a note of resignation.

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Robert Schumann | Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 47

Unlike many composers, Schumann had the habit of focusing intently on a single genre at a time and composing voraciously until his interest was eventually exhausted. He spent his 20s focused almost exclusively on solo piano works. In 1840, he turned to song and produced a series of masterful song cycles before turning his attention to large-scale orchestral works in 1841. By 1842, he had narrowed his focus to chamber works and, in a period of six months, composed three string quartets, his famous Piano Quintet and the Piano Quartet in E-flat Major.

The Quartet opens with a slow and solemn introduction in which the piano repeatedly poses an upward questioning phrase and the strings give a four-note response. With the start of the main allegro section, the strings’ response is converted into four arpeggiated chords, and the piano expands them into the main theme. A third variant of the theme arrives in a flowing cello melody before the piano introduces a sharply rhythmic second theme that is immediately imitated by the strings. After a return of the slow introduction, the movement shifts to a long and complex development section expanding upon the four notes of the main theme. 

The second movement is the Scherzo, featuring one of Schumann’s compositional innovations—a second Trio. This addition allows Schumann to contrast the two trios not only with one another, but also against the movement’s primary theme. In the slow movement, the cello offers one of Schumann’s most haunting melodies, which is then taken up by the violin and varied by the piano. A middle section is in a contrasting contemplative mood. The opening section returns with the viola and violin sharing the melody before it is resumed by the cello. 

The exuberant Finale opens with four chords that continue to dominate much of the movement. The viola then announces the main theme, which is developed in a fugal manner. The movement then shifts to alternating fugal and lyrical sections, and the Quartet ends in a burst of contrapuntal energy.