Chamber music by Anton Bruckner and his students
Even if Anton Bruckner's chamber works cannot bear comparison with his symphonies and sacred works – the Abendklängen of 1866, for example, represent literally his entire oeuvre for violin and piano – his teaching methods, with their emphasis on a profound compositional craft, bore astonishing fruit in the form of outstanding chamber works by his pupils. Josef Vockner, for instance, who as an already successful composer took private tuition in music theory from Bruckner between 1876 and 1888, composed his Piano Quintet in Bb major in the final year of his study as a kind of journeyman piece, in which characteristic Brucknerian features of harmony and melody can be found. This is also the case in the String Quartet in E major by Cyrill Hynais, who attended Bruckner's classes in counterpoint at the Vienna Conservatory from 1883 to 1885 and was later a close collaborator of his. In the 1870's Hugo Wolf and Gustav Mahler wrote the works featured in this concert during their studies at the very same conservatory. Although neither composer studied with Bruckner in the proper sense, they had a very friendly relationship and were among his most passionate admirers and advocates.
Gustav Mahler (1860–1911)
Piano Quartet Movement in A minor (approx. 1876–78)
Cyrill Hynais (1862–1913)
String Quartet in E major (1895)
– Break –
Hugo Wolf (1860–1903)
Concerto for Piano and Violin, op. 6 (1875)
Anton Bruckner (1824–1896)
Abendklänge. (Evening Sounds). A character piece in E minor for Violin and Piano, WAB 110 (1866)
Josef Vockner (1842–1906)
Quintet in B major for Piano, two Violins, Viola and Cello, op. 70 (1888)
Gottlieb Wallisch | Piano
Plattform K+K Vienna
Kirill Kobantschenko | Violin
Katharina Engelbrecht | Violin
Michael Strasser | Viola
David Pennetzdorfer | Cello