next three choices

Since you liked String Quartet No.1 in D Major Op.11: II Andante Cantabile (Tchaikovsky), we collected examples of chamber music. This time we have three pieces from 3 different time periods.

Beethoven - Romance No.2 in F Major, Op.50

(8 min)

Beethoven composed this before his No.1 Romance, still it’s numbered 2.  The size of the ensemble is relatively small for both No.1 and No.2. Written in a small rondo style, with abaca-coda, No.2 is well known for the beauty of its melody.

Elegant and beautiful.

This could be what people think of as “classical music.”

Schubert - Piano Quintet in A Major,

D 667 “The Trout” (7 min)

Known as “The Trout”, this quintet was composed by Franz Schubert in 1819, when he was just 22 years old.  It was not published during his lifetime. The nickname of this work comes from the fourth movement, a set of variations of the melody of Schubert’s song “Die Forelle” (“The Trout”).  

Unlike most piano quintets written for the piano and string quartet, this piece is written for the piano, violin, viola, cello and double bass.  The Hungarian composer Johann Hummel wrote two piano quintets with the same lineup, and actually Schubert wrote The Trout for an orchestra that performed Hummel’s works.

Vibrant

Brings the image of a school of trout swimming a beautiful Austrian river to mind.

Debussy - String Quartet in G Minor, Op.10: Animé et très décidé (6 Minutes)

Achille-Claude Debussy was a French composer who left a strong influence on the music of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  His music is categorized as “Impressionist”, with an emphasis on mood and emotions over structure and form, which is analogous to the painted works of the Impressionists such as Claude Monet.

Unique

It sounds experimental and eccentric here and there.  I hear similar tunes from 20th century.