Altenberg Trio . Herbert Kefer

Two years ago the Altenberg Trio from Vienna performed an unforgettable and complete version of the Dvorák piano trios. They are now here in the Blue Hall to give a complete performance of Brahms' piano quartets. Together with fellow townsman and kindred spirit Herbert Kefer, the viola player from the Artis Quartet, the Altenberg Trio have explored the piano quartet repertoire more than once. Brahms' piano quartets are an absolute highpoint in the genre. The First Quartet, opus 25, from 1861 has attracted a fair amount of disapproval. A critic disdainfully called it "nothing but desert storm and decay". In this quartet, Brahms broke the rules of the classic sonata form. The sixths, fourths and seconds are the central intervals where the variations of the core motifs are developed. In an essay entitled 'Brahms, the progressive' Schoenberg voiced his admiration for the innovative principle of the 'developed variation'. It was also Schoenberg who reworked the opus 25 in 1937 for orchestra, "in order to finally hear what is written in the score".