Johannes Brahms's Piano Quartet in C Minor, Op. 60, was conceived during a period of personal turmoil, reflecting his unrequited love for Clara Schumann and Robert Schumann's attempted suicide.
Instruments
Barbara Buntrock, the violist on this recording, plays a viola made by Antonio Mariani around 1650, which was previously owned by the legendary violist Lionel Tertis.
Composer Biography
When Friedrich Gernsheim left Leipzig at 16 to study in Paris, the director of the conservatory gave him a lock of Mendelssohn's hair.
Cultural Impact
During the Nazi era, Friedrich Gernsheim's works were banned from performance due to his Jewish heritage, contributing to his music being forgotten for decades.
Compositional Technique
The slow introduction of Brahms's Piano Quartet in C Minor features a 'sighing motif' intoned by the violin, which returns throughout the movement with a fatalistic descending motion.
Historical Context
Musicologist Alexander L. Ringer called composers born in the 1830s and 1840s, including Friedrich Gernsheim, a 'lost generation' because their music was overshadowed by both Romantics and Modernists.
Composer Biography
Friedrich Gernsheim, a composer featured on this album, was a child prodigy who began his studies at the Leipzig Conservatory at age 13.
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