Piano Quartet No. 2 in G Minor

A searingly intense melody on unison strings, propelled by powerfully insistent rhythmic patterns on the piano, opens Gabriel Fauré’s intoxicatingly beautiful Second Piano Quartet. It was composed between 1885 and 1886 and successfully premiered at a Société Nationale de Musique concert in Paris the following year, with the composer playing the piano part. Although its four movements are laid out in the same order and conceived on an equally symphonic scale as the First Piano Quartet, the later work demonstrates the composer’s growing individuality of style, characterised by restless and often unpredictable harmonies, sharper contrasts in mood and a more sophisticated textural interaction between the piano and the strings. Following an explosive opening, the first movement, “Allegro molto moderato”, adopts a more lyrical pose with an achingly beautiful melody, initially heard on the viola and embroidered with sensual harmonies. The ensuing “Allegro molto” could not be more different, as the piano’s frantic scales, coupled with jerky interjections from the strings, create a distinctly sinister effect. In the deeply affecting “Adagio non troppo”, the piano’s mysterious church bell figurations, referring to sounds that mesmerised the composer during his childhood, are juxtaposed with a yearning string melody which is eventually transformed into a gentle lullaby. In the “Finale”, Fauré returns to a more urgent mood, as the music’s raging torrents and driving rhythms move with ever-increasing urgency toward a powerful finish.