Piano Quartet (Mahler)

The Piano Quartet in A minor by Gustav Mahler was written around 1876. Only the first movement survives, and it is unlikely that Mahler completed any other movements^{citation needed}.

Origin

This quartet is an early work of Gustav Mahler. Mahler is generally known for his large-scale symphonies and wrote no chamber music after his student years. Probably dating from 1876, Mahler wrote this when he was 15 or 16, at the end of his first year at the Vienna Conservatory. It is one of the very few works from Mahler's early youth that have survived.

The manuscript bears the stamp of the publisher Theodor Rattig; it has been theorized that Mahler sent the work to him, but he rejected it.

In several letters, Mahler mentions a quartet or quintet, but there is no clear reference to this piano quartet.

The work

The work is scored for a usual piano quartet, which consists of a piano, a violin, a viola, and a cello. It is often referred to as Piano Quartet Movement in A minor, since the opening movement is the only one completed. Typical recordings usually last between 11 and 15 minutes.

This quartet is the only extant chamber piece known to be composed by Gustav Mahler (there was a violin sonata of similar date, apparently).¹ The work is incomplete; only the first movement was completely written.² However, there exists a 24-bar sketch of a scherzo written in G minor, sometimes paired with the quartet. In 1988 the Russian composer Alfred Schnittke wrote a completion of this movement; he also used the fragment in the second movement of his Concerto Grosso No. 4/Symphony No. 5.³

Pianist Enguerrand-Friedrich Lühl has also completed the Scherzo movement, and with an addition of two original movements not based on Mahler's materials, produced a four-movement work.^{citation needed}

Premieres

Contemporary performances:

First performance: July 10, 1876 at the Vienna Conservatory with Mahler at the piano.¹
First semipublic performance: 1876, Vienna, at the home of Dr.Theodor Billroth, the renowned Viennese surgeon and amateur violinist, who was a close friend of Brahms.⁴
First public performance: September 12, 1876, Iglau, with Mahler again at the piano.

(No other contemporary performances known)

Modern performances:

American premiere: January 12, 1964 in New York City by Peter Serkin and the Galimir Quartet.
UK premiere: June 1, 1968 in Purcell Room, London, by the Nemet Ensemble. Review ('Premiere for Early Mahler Movement') by Martin Cooper in the Daily Telegraph, Monday June 3, 1968.
Premiere of the four-movement edition by Enguerrand-Friedrich Lühl: April 2010 in Paris, with the Ensemble Monsolo and Lühl at the piano.

In modern culture

The quartet is heard in Martin Scorsese's 2010 motion picture Shutter Island and is the subject of a short discussion between the movie's characters. Its complete performance by the Prazak Quartet is featured on the movie's double-CD soundtrack.

Notes

^ ^a ^b Donald Mitchell, Gustav Mahler. Volume I: The Early Years (Revised edition, London: Faber, 1995), p. 116.
^ Constantin Floros, liner notes to DG 447 112-2.
^ Alexander Ivashkin, Alfred Schnittke (London: Phaidon Press, 1996), p. 195.
^ Bauer-Lechner, Natalie, Recollections of Gustav Mahler ed. Peter Franklin, trs. Dika Newlin (London: Faber, 1980)

External links

[Donald_Mitchell_1995_p._116-0] Donald Mitchell, Gustav Mahler. Volume I: The Early Years (Revised edition, London: Faber, 1995), p. 116.

[1] Constantin Floros, liner notes to DG 447 112-2.

[2] Alexander Ivashkin, Alfred Schnittke (London: Phaidon Press, 1996), p. 195.

[Bauer-Lechner.2C_Natalie-3] Bauer-Lechner, Natalie, Recollections of Gustav Mahler ed. Peter Franklin, trs. Dika Newlin (London: Faber, 1980)

1

2

3

4