Renouncing full-blooded exoticism, Brahms’s Piano Quartet in A Major retains some of the Hungarian energy of earlier works but cross-fertilises it with an exquisite mastery of sonata principles. The result is graceful and poetic, with an almost symphonic reach, while its four movements, each lasting more than ten minutes, revel in the ‘heavenly length’ associated with Schubert. As in the symphonies, that is, Brahms builds bridges to the future by looking back. 

ARTISTS

Hugo Ticciati violin
Sascha Bota viola
Florian Schmidt-Bartha cello 
Simon Crawford-Phillips piano

PROGRAMME

Johannes Brahms Piano Quartet in A Major Op. 26 (50’)