This album was recorded at Aldeburgh Music, Britten Studio, Snape (United Kingdom) across several sessions in 2014 and 2015.
Compositional Technique
The Piano Quintet, Op. 34, explores the relationship between F minor and D flat major, keys separated by only a single semitone.
Composition History
Brahms's Piano Quintet, Op. 34, underwent two complete rewrites, first as a string quintet and then as a sonata for two pianos, before reaching its final form.
Composer Biography
Brahms felt immense pressure from Ludwig van Beethoven's legacy, once lamenting, "You have no idea how the likes of us feel when we can always hear a giant tramping behind us."
Composition History
Brahms published his first two string quartets, Op. 51, at the age of 40, after they had reportedly been in his drawer for years.
Composition History
Under pressure to live up to Beethoven, Brahms developed a neurosis and initially avoided composing symphonies and string quartets, even burning a completed quartet.
Compositional Technique
The First String Quartet, Op. 51 No. 1, is in C minor, a key Krzysztof Chorzelski of the Belcea Quartet notes is "typical Beethoven," suggesting Brahms's struggle with his predecessor.
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