Quintett d-Moll op. 130

With his piano quinet op. 130 in D minor dated 1845, Louis Spohr (1784-1859) created one of the first piano quintets ever. Up until then, the only piano quintet existing with this instrumentation was the one in E flat major op. 44 composed by Robert Schumann in 1842. Spohr's composition unites the concert style of classical chamber music with romantic expression and thus builds a bridge for the transition from one epoch to another. The work we want to make accessible again has one pecularity: unlike most other piano quintets, it was not composed by someone who took the principal role of the piano for granted. Quite the contrary - Spohr's composition is influenced by his origin as a violin player, and special attraction is gained by the vivid, multi-coloured and at the same time transparent dominance of the string quartet's parts and the rather restrained but sonorous role of the piano.