Chandos
BBC Music Magazine 5*

Brahms & Contemporaries, Vol. 2

Romantic, intimate, virtuosic, dramatic

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Details

Composer
Johannes Brahms, Louise Heritte-Viardot
Artist
Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective
Format
CD
Discs
1
Label
Chandos
Released
May 16, 2025
Catalog #
CHAN 20329
UPC
095115232927

About

Brahms's Third Piano Quartet gestated for a long time - the first sketches were made in 1855, whilst the work was not completed until 1875. Numerous commentators tie the work to Brahms's infatuation with Clara Schumann, who certainly heard many of the various iterations of the piece before it's final version. But Brahms did not write programme music, and whatever his motivations may or may not have been, the result is, like the rest of his output, pure music. Louise Heritte-Viardot was a French singer, pianist, conductor, and composer. She was born in Paris, the eldest child of Pauline Viardot-Garcia and Louis Viardot, and sister to the violinist and conductor Paul Viardot. Her singing career was cut short by illness, but with the help of Clara Schumann she found a second career as a singing teacher at the Hoch Conservatory, in Frankfurt. In contrast to Brahms's quartet, Viardot's work is extremely programmatic. Titled I'm Sommer (In Summer), it comprises four movements which also carry evocative titles: 'Morning, in the Woods', 'Flies and Butterflies', 'Sultriness', and 'Evening, under the Oak-tree'.

Critic reviews

  • “…rustles of arpeggios, buzzing birds and bees, a dancing scherzo… The Kaleidoscope players dispatch this with great verve and elan… the players come together in a unified, expansive and powerful ensemble.”

    BBC Music Magazine, 5 stars, August 2025

  • “…an unusual coupling of piano quartets: the No. 3 by Brahms and a piano quartet by Louise Héritte-Viardot, the one as familiar as the other is rare.”

    Fanfare, Want list, November 2025

Tracklist 8 tracks

  1. 1 I. Des Morgens, im Walde (Morning, in the Woods) 07:23
    Track
    1
    Title
    I. Des Morgens, im Walde (Morning, in the Woods)
    Duration
    07:23
    Composer
    Louise Héritte-Viardot
    Ensemble
    Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective
  2. 2 II. Scherzo: Fliegen und Schmetterlinge (Flies and Butterflies) 05:46
    Track
    2
    Title
    II. Scherzo: Fliegen und Schmetterlinge (Flies and Butterflies)
    Duration
    05:46
    Composer
    Louise Héritte-Viardot
    Ensemble
    Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective
  3. 3 III. Die Schwüle (Sultriness) 06:14
    Track
    3
    Title
    III. Die Schwüle (Sultriness)
    Duration
    06:14
    Composer
    Louise Héritte-Viardot
    Ensemble
    Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective
  4. 4 IV. Bauerntanz (Peasant Dance): Abends, unter der Eiche (Evening, under the Oak-tree) 04:35
    Track
    4
    Title
    IV. Bauerntanz (Peasant Dance): Abends, unter der Eiche (Evening, under the Oak-tree)
    Duration
    04:35
    Composer
    Louise Héritte-Viardot
    Ensemble
    Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective
  5. 5 I. Allegro ma non troppo 10:59
    Track
    5
    Title
    I. Allegro ma non troppo
    Duration
    10:59
    Composer
    Johannes Brahms
    Ensemble
    Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective
  6. 6 II. Scherzo: Allegro 04:10
    Track
    6
    Title
    II. Scherzo: Allegro
    Duration
    04:10
    Composer
    Johannes Brahms
    Ensemble
    Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective
  7. 7 III. Andante 08:35
    Track
    7
    Title
    III. Andante
    Duration
    08:35
    Composer
    Johannes Brahms
    Ensemble
    Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective
  8. 8 IV. Allegro comodo 11:26
    Track
    8
    Title
    IV. Allegro comodo
    Duration
    11:26
    Composer
    Johannes Brahms
    Ensemble
    Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective