In 1862, the twenty-nine-year-old composer and pianist Johannes Brahms settled in Vienna, the capital of the western musical world. He introduced himself to that city’s musical elite with his Piano Quartet in G-minor, the first of his eventual three piano quartets.
The Quartet documents Brahms’ early maturity, in which, nearing his thirtieth birthday, the composer was able to fully assimilate the influences of Bach, Beethoven, and Schubert into his own fully formed compositional voice.
Opus 25 is best known for its rousing finale, the famous Rondo alla Zingarese (Gypsy Rondo). The movement’s irresistible refrain, reflective of Brahms’ lifelong fascination with Hungarian folk music, moreover reveals the hand of a master composer, able to dash off a hit with ease.
The G-minor Piano Quartet begins with a four-note fragment, presented by the piano in skeletal octaves—followed by a similar four notes, inverted (upside-down); then the inverted fragment again, transposed down a fourth; then a final time, but with the second and third notes voiced as a chord.
Indeed, upon close listening to each of the Quartet’s four movements demonstrates this half-step throughout the whole work. It defines the melodic contour of the Intermezzo’s opening melody: a statement of quiet strength, voiced in muted strings, piano.
The theme that begins the ravishing Andante con moto, like a Baroque ornament in slow motion, also moves around an ascending half-step.
On arriving at the Rondo alla Zingarese, the attentive ear will detect, not only the seminal half-step, but the longer four-note gesture that began the Quartet.
This exciting final movement, charts an emotional journey that announces not only Beethoven’s heir, but also a unique and powerful musical voice in its own right.
Here are four giants in today’s music world to play this music for you:
