Johannes Brahms - Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34

- Composer: Johannes Brahms (7 May 1833 -- 3 April 1897) - Performers: Christoph Eschenbach (piano), Amadeus Quartet - Year of recording: 1968 Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34a, written in 1861. 00:00 - I. Allegro non troppo 14:44 - II. Andante, un poco Adagio 23:37 - III. Scherzo. Allegro - Trio 30:51 - IV. Finale. Poco sostenuto - Allegro non troppo This youthful work had a difficult birth. Brahms introduced it as a string quintet in 1862, but violinist Joseph Joachim found the music too weighty to be supported by strings and suggested recasting it for piano. So Brahms fashioned it into a sonata for two pianos, but this version didnt satisfy pianist Clara Schumann, who persuaded Brahms to bring strings back into the picture. The final transformation, for piano and string quartet, was finished in the fall of 1864; Brahms published it with a dedication to Princess Anna of Hesse -- not unusual for a young composer seeking patronage, but also perhaps something of a slight to