Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 26

Featuring

Kenneth Woods
English Symphony Orchestra
Johannes Brahms

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Composer's Artistic Vision

Early critics noted a strong influence of Franz Schubert's music on Brahms's Piano Quartet No. 2, particularly in its expansive form and rich melodic ideas.

Compositional Technique

The Piano Quartet No. 2 in A major, Op. 26, is the longest chamber work Brahms ever wrote, written on a vast scale.

Composition History

The idea for this orchestration of Brahms's Piano Quartet in A Major came to Kenneth Woods, the orchestrator, in 2008 while coaching chamber music at the Ischia Chamber Music Festival.

Recording & Production

This recording was made on November 19, 2017, at Wyastone Concert Hall, produced and engineered by Philip Rowlands at 192kHz.

Composition History

Brahms's Piano Quartet No. 2 in A major, Op. 26, was completed in the same year as his stormy Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, 1861.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Brahms's early works, like the A major Piano Quartet, show a Romantic generosity of material and spirit that is less common in his later music, which moved towards greater economy and rigor.

Composer Biography

Johannes Brahms made a careful study of Franz Schubert's chamber music in the 1850s and co-edited his collected critical edition with Joseph Hellmesberger Sr. and Eusebius Mandyczewski.