Modern Piano Quartets

The prizewinning Copenhagen Piano Quartet presents works by composers cosmopolitan and conservative, but each brimming with charm. German-born Friedrich Kuhlau was a leading figure in what posterity has dubbed the Danish Golden Age. From the outset, Kuhlau stated that he intended to write three piano quartets. With this new release, Kuhlau’s complete piano quartets are available in recordings by the young and rising Copenhagen Piano Quartet. Kuhlau declared his Piano Quartet No. 3 ‘my best to date,’ speaking of a large-scale work of drama offset by grace and highlighting the composer’s contrapuntal gift. Otto Malling was a Danish composer and organ player and the pupil of JPE Hartmann and Niels W Gade. In 1903 Malling wrote his one and only piano quartet, which was also his very last chamber work to compose. The work by ‘The Danish Saint-Saens,’ as he was affectionately called by some of his peers, presents a perfect picture of this master craftsman’s clarity and concision while showing tantalizing signs of his sensuality, too.