Piano quartet
A piano quartet is a chamber music work for an instrumentation that consists of a piano and three other instruments. The most common instrumentation is piano, violin , viola and violoncello .
In classical chamber music literature, piano quartets play a less important role than piano trios or string quartets . Nevertheless, the number cannot necessarily be described as small, although many quartets are rarely performed because there are only a few permanent piano quartet formations and ad hoc ensembles usually stick to the popular pieces. To name are u. a. the two piano quartets by Mozart (No. 1 in G minor, K. 478, No. 2 in E flat major, K. 493) and three works by Brahms (No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25, No. 2, A major, Op. 26, No. 3 in C minor, Op. 60). The concert programs also often feature piano quartets by Schumann , Fauré and Dvořák, more rarely those by Mendelssohn Bartholdy (No. 1 in C minor, Op. 1, No. 2 in F minor, Op. 2, No. 3 in B minor, Op. 3), Weber (B flat major, Op. 8) and, for example, by Walton , Suk , Saint-Saëns , Strauss or Turina .
Above all from the 20th century onwards, piano quartets for more variable instrumentation were also created, for example the Quartet op.22 by Anton Webern (1930), which uses violin, clarinet and tenor saxophone in addition to the piano, or Olivier Messiaen's Quatuor pour la fin du temps (1940) for piano, violin, cello and clarinet.