Overview

Mozart’s piano quartets, which historically introduced this genre, are considered by many as scaled-down piano concertos, because of the special role that the piano has in them. By the same analogy, the piano quartets composed by Brahms are considered as “condensed” symphonies, written by a young artist who did not feel ready to move on to extensive symphonic compositions and was channelling his grand ideas to other musical forms. Above all, however, all of them are genuine chamber music masterpieces, demanding the very best from all instruments and, at the same time, developing between them feverish dialogues in the context of unforgettable musical narratives.