Obscure Music Monday: Maier's Piano Quartet in E minor

Amanda Maier (February 19, 1853 - July 15, 1894) was born in the Swedish town of Landskrona, and was quite an accomplished violinist, cellist, organist, and composer. Her initial studies in piano and violin were with her father, and later studied at the Royal School of Music at Stockholm, and was their first female music graduate.  While she was there, she won numerous awards for her instrumental playing and compositions as well. After graduating, she moved on to the Leipzig Conservatory, to study composition with Carl Reinecke, and violin with Engelbert Rontgen. Brahms and Grieg spoke very highly of her compositions, though she stopped composing after she got married, and not many of her works were published in her lifetime.

Her Piano Quartet in E Minor was composed just a few years before her death, in 1891. The opening Allegro movement opens with a strong unison statement, with the cello then expounding upon it with a syncopated piano part beating beneath it. It's an intense eight-minute movement, even during the tender moments. The second movement Andante starts off calmly, with a sweet melody. An intense section in the middle interrupts, but it returns back to its tender roots. All the instruments take turns in the spotlight throughout this sweet movement. A dance-like Presto con fuoco movement follows, with an intensity much like the first movement. In the final movement, Largo espressivo - Allegro vivace - Presto, is powerful and strong, as Maier writes sweeping musical gestures and sonorities, shying away from nothing. The journey this movement goes through is incredibly intriguing, and slightly reminiscent of Brahms. Overall, this is a powerful work, for both the listener and performers.

Here's a recording of this work for you to enjoy!

Amanda Maier, Vol. 1