Do you like chamber music? What piece introduced you to it? What is your favorite piece now?

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By Jacob Stockinger

May is National Chamber Music Month.

So before the month ends, I want to ask readers two questions:

WHAT PIECE FIRST INTRODUCED CHAMBER MUSIC TO YOU?

AND WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PIECE OF  CHAMBER MUSIC TODAY?

The countless choices range, for example, from violin and cello duets, piano trios (below is the famed Beaux Arts Trio) and string quartets and on and on up to quintets, sextets, septets, octets and nonets, and many more.

For The Ear, the answer is easy and chamber music did not turn out to be esoteric or rarified.

The first chamber music piece I ever heard was the Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat major, Op. 99 or D. 898, by Franz Schubert (below).

 

And to this day it remains my favorite piece of chamber music  — as often happens with a work or a performance (think Arthur Rubinstein’s Chopin) that first opens up a whole new world to you.

I was 15 when I first heard the Schubert piano trio in a live performance when my piano teacher played it outdoors in summer.

I was totally transported. It was nothing short of magical.

From the first notes, I had never heard such small ensemble beauty. Like most piano students, I was far more acquainted with the solo and concerto repertoire.

But Schubert’s gorgeous melodies, three-way dialogue and soul-stirring harmonies opened up a new world for me. (See if you agree. You can hear the sublimely beautiful song-like slow movement in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

Only after hearing that trio did I gradually discover the many other forms of chamber music from great composers and eventually my preference for strings. That trio propelled a life-long love of chamber music.

Chamber music has remained a major joy in my life, something I enjoy more than orchestral and operatic music.

It has an intimacy and elements of surprise that speak to me.

So which piece was your introduction to chamber music?

And which piece is your favorite piece of chamber music today?

What do you think in general of chamber music?

The Ear wants to hear.

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Posted in Classical music, Music
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