Josef Labor - Piano Quintet in E minor, Op. 3
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- Опубліковано 30 лип 2024
- - Composer: Josef Paul Labor (29 June 1842 -- 26 April 1924)
- Performers: Oliver Triendl (piano), Cecilia Zilliacus (violin), Hiyoli Togawa (viola), Valentin Radutiu (cello), Zoran Marković (double bass)
- Year of recording: 2013 (Live in Kempten, Germany)
Quintet for Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello and Double Bass in E minor, Op. 3, written in 1880.
00:00 - I. Allegro
10:24 - II. Scherzo (Allegro vivace)
16:01 - III. Andante
27:25 - IV. Allegro ma non troppo
Czech composer Josef Labor was born in the town of Hořovice in Bohemia, at the age of three he was left blind due to contracting smallpox. Labor knew and was on friendly terms with virtually every musician of importance in Vienna as well as many others living elsewhere, including Brahms, Richard Strauss, Bruckner, Clara Schumann, Gustav Mahler and Bruno Walter.
This piano quintet is written for piano, violin, viola, cello and double bass: the so called “Trout” instrumentation, taking its name from Schubert’s famous Trout Piano Quintet for the same combination [uploaded on this channel]. The impetus for it, no doubt, was Labor’s friendship with Frantisek {Franz} Simandl, a fellow Czech who was a virtuoso bassist whom most considered to be the equal of Dragonetti. Simandl was solo bassist with the Vienna Philharmonic for over 30 years and died in 1912 after a protracted illness. Labor dedicated the work to Simandl as a tribute and it is one of the few such works where the bass has an extremely important part with many solo passages and chances to lead the group.
- The four movement work begins with a powerful and sweeping Allegro. The parts are integrated seamlessly and the melodies are compelling.
- Next comes a playful, light-hearted Scherzo, Allegro vivace, with two highly contrasting trios. The second trio is marked “Mit humor, basso buffo” and here the bass leads the entire way.
- For vitually the first half of the third movement, Andante, the cello alone, with the support of only the piano and very occasionally the violin, sings the gorgeous and highly romantic main theme, surely one of the longest solos in the literature. In the middle section, the bass takes over with a somber and plodding, march-like melody which is then heightened with help from the viola. The movement ends with the bass taking the lead again.
- The finale, Allegro ma non troppo, after a short thrusting introduction, begins with a hard driving and exciting theme which breaks loose with great forward motion. The bass is given powerful short solos bursting with energy as the moods alternate between dramatic and gentle romanticism. The works ends with a hyper dramatic and masterful coda.
The Piano Quintet is dedicated: "Herrn Professor Franz Simandl zugeeignet".
What an ending! Have not heard such determination in a long time. The chord progression is as decisive as the one in the finale of Glazunov Sonata No.2!
What great work Olla-vogala’ does for us. Much appreciated. Many thanks.
Ludwig Wittgenstein said there were six great composers: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms and Labor. Labor was a frequent guest at Haus Wittgenstein, so Ludwig may have been a little prejudiced. But the music is very fine.
Perhaps a bit prejudiced, but as the brother of Paul Wittgenstein, Ludwig is likely to have been a perceptive music lover. And I find this work to be a very fine composition, never boring or predictable.
I'm just reading Wittgenstein und googeled Labor. One of Wittgenstein's remarks on Labor: "Labour is, where he writes good music, absolutely unromantic. That's a very strange and meaningful sign." No clue what he means by that.
@LX Forde If someone doesn't think J.S. Bach is the greatest, that's fine. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion!
It just happens that their opinion would be wrong.
I suppose it was a joke) great quintet however
1:01 I love this extract. It's written in my favorite tonality and the chord conducting at the piano is amazing.
Ja eine Fundgrube, an amazing discovery! And: a very nice performance!
heavenly - truly !!
Danke, Herr Labor, for writing a fine quintet including the contrabass -- we of that persuasion, or, at least formerly, give thanks.
Excellent......BRAVO from Acapulco!
Wonderful!
Exquisite in every way.
The first Trio of the Scherzo ( 11:10 to 12:35 ) is magical.
@Manuel Oscar The channelmaster should delete such idiotic comments. Because of these comments, I got a notification. What a waste of time.
Heart-breakingly beautiful. I've never heard this piece before, but it strongly reminds me of Brahms' finest chamber music.
+Mari Christian Me too! Labor is again one of those almost completely forgotten composers, who actually made sensitive and well-crafted music like this.
I thank you for introducing me to a completely new set of composers, olla-vogala. It's difficult to understand why they are not more widely played and acknowledged . This quintet is stunning.
+Mari Christian I agree. Hopefully they will reach a wider audience through these uploads!
+olla-vogala It is indeed a shame that composers like Labor are ignored. His grasp on the theme is absolutely incredible... I'd say it is surpassing Brahms's work; this is on the level of Mendelssohn or Beethoven.
ClassicMusicVids
I'm not sure it surpasses Brahms, but it's almost on his level of craftsmanship for sure. Which is quite the praise already, I'd say :)
Superb work! Klein meister? No! They were truly great, with a complete control of technique and marvelous ideas!
This is a beautiful score richly and delicately harmonized though with no licence written by a perfectly unknown composer - at lest for me. The sophisticated harmonies sound more German than French, in spite of a very light writing which very far from both Wagner and Barahmps, for instance. A kind of German Gabriel Fauré, if I may say.
another fine composer who labor'd in Brahms shadow
yea i wouldn't be surprised if this was mid-late brahms.
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@@mcrettable It's rythmically/harmonically/contrapuntally very poorer than Brahms.
nice
10:25
16:03
27:27