Piano Quartet
Boston Conservatory Chamber Ensemble, Victor Romanul, violin, Scott Woolweaver, viola, Andrés Díaz, cello, Janice Webber, piano, February 9, 1992, Boston Conservatory
Joanna Jenner, violin, Sarah Clarke, viola, Eric Bartlett, cello, Larry Bell, piano, Boston Conservatory and Greenwich House, New York, October 20 and 22, 1992
The Piano Quartet was commissioned by The Boston Conservatory Chamber Ensemble to commemorate the 125th anniversary of The Boston Conservatory. The work was begun and completed in July of 1991 at the American Academy in Rome and was premiered February 9, 1992.
The first movement, fantasia soli, is a sonata form with four themes, one for each instrument. The violin plays con bravura, the viola plays agitato, the ‘cello appassionata, and the piano maestoso. Each instrument plays in its own time and sound world with overlapping cadenzas. The differences among the instrumental characters are reconciled only by sharing the harmonic structure common to all movements.
The second movement, Scherzando duettini, is a light contrast to the first movement. The initial four themes are here reduced to two that imitate one another mockingly. Movement three, Canto a tre voce, or song in three voices, is a lyrical nocturne with a surprising central section in which a song is “discovered,” uniting the disparate conflicts of the first two movements. The fourth movement, Partita di quattro, or “foursome,” is a rondo finale that emphasizes unison rhythms and general agreement while each instrumental pair retains its own individuality.
“The Piano Quartet has an interesting formal design, with overlapping solo fantasy-cadenzas coalescing into duets, then trios, then, in the finale, a unison Partita.” –Richard Dyer, “A mixed all-Bell program at the Boston Conservatory,” The Boston Globe, October 22, 1992
More Chamber Music Works
String Quartet no. 4, Epiphany, Opus 196
Clearing the Clouds from Our Minds, Opus 157
Serenade No. 4, Walk That Lonesome Valley, Opus 112
Serenade No. 2 for alto recorder, cello, and harpsichord, Opus 98
Poems for Trumpet and Piano, Opus 85
Two Encores: 1, Canon; 2, Lament, Opus 78 no. 2
Two Encores: 1, Canon; 2, Lament, Opus 78 No. 1
Harmonium: Eight Poems for Brass Quintet after Wallace Stevens, Opus 48
Four Pieces in Familiar Style, Opus 41
What Goes Around Comes Around, Opus 38
Concerto for Oboe and Five Instruments, Opus 32
The Book of Moonlight, Opus 31
“Sleep Song” a children’s piece for violin and piano, Opus 18
Fantasia on an Imaginary Hymn, Opus 17