Andreas Tarkmann: Brahms "Piano Quartet No. 4" (arr. 3d symphony; Notos quartet)

[ewk]

Dear all,

Tarkmann is a renowned arranger who has done everything from a "Ring without words" to chamber arrangements. If you see a chamber arrangement e.g. of an opera here in Germany, chances are high he did it.
What I know from his own compositions is romantic as well (e.g. his overture "Das Kalte Herz" (The Cold Heart), after a fairytale by W. Hauff). He also composed a lot for children.

That being said, I discovered this fascinating arrangement shortly ago after reading a enthusiastic review in "Fono Forum". Also The Guardian is full of praise, as is Rondo (German). An interview about the recording (German, again, I'm sorry!) with the performers can be heard here.

I was sceptical at first, loving the original Symphony very much. But to me, this arrangement feels so very natural as if it was composed like this. Tarkmann said he tried to follow the way of arranging that Brahms did in his own 2 pianos version of the Symphony. For me, this is more than one of the countless "Corona arrangements" that had been done in the past year.

Coupled with Brahms' g minor piano quartet (the album title "The Schönberg effect" derives from that – they see the Symphony arrangement as the "reverse" from Schönberg's genius orchestration of said piano quartet)

The album can be listened to at youtube.

Highly recommended!

Best wishes!
ewk

[Mark Thomas]

No doubt purists will disagree and question the point of this, but it really is very well done. The music, of course, couldn't be more familiar but it's rendered all the more intimate and direct in this, to me, thoroughly convincing and enjoyable arrangement. If you didn't know the Symphony, I doubt you would guess that this music didn't begin life as a Piano Quartet, it's that good. My only criticism regards the performance: the Notos Quartet's interpretation is quite a driven, "full on" one and the music really would benefit from a lighter touch or a relaxed easing back here and there.