Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Piano Quartet No. 2 in A major Op. 26 (1861-1862)
Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor Op 60 (1875)
Christian Tetzlaff (violin), Barbara Buntrock (viola), Tanja Tetzlaff (cello), Lars Vogt (piano)
rec. 2022, Sendesaal, Bremen, Germany (Op. 60 live)
Ondine ODE1448-2D [2 CDs: 81]
There are many fine piano quartets, that is, works for violin, viola cello and piano. As well as the three works by Brahms, there are others by Mozart, Schumann, Fauré, Chausson, Dvořák, Suk, Bax, Enescu, Martinů and others. But they are a bit awkward to programme. Either an established string quartet has to drop a member, usually the second violin, and find a pianist, or an ad hoc group is formed. There have been a few established piano quartets – Domus and two different Pro Arte Piano Quartets come to mind – but there are not very many, fewer than established piano trios and far fewer than string quartets. However, there have fortunately been many good recordings.
This version has an interesting history. The pianist Lars Vogt had a good track record in Brahms, having recorded the two concertos and a fair number of solo piano works. He also made a number of recordings of Brahms’s chamber music involving the piano. This included the violin sonatas with Christian Tetzlaff, the cello sonatas with Boris Pergamenschikow, the clarinet sonatas with Sabine Meyer and the viola versions of them with Rachel Roberts, the piano quintet with a mixed group and the piano trios with Christian and Tanja Tetzlaff. As for the piano quartets, he first recorded them around the turn of the century, with a different team, issued on two separate discs by EMI and currently available in a box of all Lars Vogt’s EMI recordings now on Warner. However, although already suffering from the illness which led to his premature death, he wanted to make new recordings of them, this time for Ondine. The ensemble he formed was the same as for the trios, plus Barbara Buntrock as violist.
They prepared the A major quartet and made the recording in the studio. They then performed it live and added the C minor quartet to make up a decent concert programme. However, Vogt did not live to make the studio recording of the C minor quartet and they never reached the G minor one, the first of the three. Fortunately, the performance of the C minor quartet had been recorded, so here we have the live performance of that to put with the studio performance of the A major work. These were Vogt’s last recordings. He died in 2022.
The A major work forms a pair with the G minor one. They are both early works, with adjacent opus numbers, and are opposed in mood: the G minor work is passionate and tragic, the A major one mainly sunny and serene. It is also very long, Brahms being full of ideas and keen to develop them. Christian Tetzlaff, in the interview included in the booklet, sees an affinity with Mozart’s A major works, notably the piano concerto K. 488 and the clarinet concerto and quintet, and he finds an exuberant quality in this work by Brahms. Nevertheless the long first movement – and the exposition repeat is taken – builds up to a passionate climax. The second movement, marked Poco Adagio, has some mysterious passages in which the piano has sweepng arpeggios played una corda contrasting with the sober writing for the strings. The scherzo is surprisingly gentle but it has a challenging canonic trio, while the finale is a lively rondo.
The C minor work is very different: it is intensely melancholy, and has a withdrawn, private, even hermetic character. This partly explained by the circumstances of its composition. Brahms actually began it in 1856, earlier than the other two quartets, though, when he played it over with Joachim, neither of them was then satisfied. At that time the opening movement was in C sharp minor and there was no scherzo. Many years later he returned to the work, transposed and probably rewrote the first movement in C minor and added the scherzo. In this form he sent it for publication in 1875, adding in a letter to his publisher: ‘On the cover you must have a picture, a head with a pistol pointed towards it.’ It seems that the whole work, and the slow movement in particular, were associated with Brahms’s unresolved early feelings for Clara Schumann. The form of the work is unusual: in the first movement the first subject does not appear complete until the recapitulation. The scherzo comes second and has a pounding rhythm; the brief trio offers little respite. The slow movement begins with a yearning theme on the cello and the whole movement features that alternation between, and combination of, duple and triple metres which is so characteristic of the composer. The finale is in sonata form, restless and insistent, though a chorale theme on the strings occasionally offers some respite.
These performances are very accomplished. Christian Tetzlaff, though a prominent soloist, does not seek to shine but shows himself a real chamber music player, and his string colleagues make good partners. Vogt’s piano part is often very elaborate but he never drowns the strings. They all clearly listen to one another and present a unified and consistent interpretation of these two very different works. There is only one mannerism that I queried: a tendency to linger on the first note of a phrase. However, this may be considered to be in good style.
The recording is outstanding, with the piano well captured and the balance between the piano and strings nicely managed. The sleeve note is not the usual analytical or biographical essay but a transcript of an interview with the three surviving members of the ensemble, understandably to a considerable extent about Vogt.
This issue is best seen as a memorial to Vogt. Most listeners wanting the Brahms piano quartets will want all three, and they may want to go for an integral set, such as that led by the Capuçons. Those interested in this issue may want to add a version of the G minor. There are two classic versions by members of the Amadeus Quartet, with either Emil Gilels or Murray Perahia. There are others, but, in looking for one, do not confuse Brahms’s original with Schoenberg’s fascinating orchestration of it, which has become quite popular. Meanwhile these two performances will give much pleasure.
Stephen Barber
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