Piano Quartet in G major

In his diary, on the eve of World War One, Reynaldo Hahn wrote about his predilection for ensembles combining string instruments with the piano, saying that he considered that “chamber music in the form of a simple quartet [was] fundamentally incomplete”. The composer’s interest reflected the widely shared enthusiasm at that time for this type of ensemble, as can be seen by the abundant trios, quartets and quintets with piano penned by numerous French composers—Saint-Saëns, Fauré, Franck, Vierne, Pierné or even Widor. This inclination manifested itself in Hahn’s work by the composition of chamber music works that included some of the composer’s biggest public successes, from the Piano Quintet in F sharp minor (1921) to the Sonata for violin and piano in C major (1926). Unlike these works, however, the Quartet in G major for violin, viola, cello and piano does not appear to have been played in public at the time of its publication in 1946 by Heugel, a year before the composer’s death. Dated 25 July 1944, the manuscript of the piano quartet was finished in Monte Carlo where Hahn, of Jewish origins, had taken refuge under the Occupation. Dedicated to Madame Zerline André-Rochard, it shows a desire for simplicity and unity which is particularly evident in the development, throughout the four movements, of material which is stated on the piano in the first nine bars of the work and forms the subject of rich variations in the Allegretto. The second movement is a scherzo tinged with sadness, the prevailing emotion in the Andante, which is deeply melancholy in mood. The final movement, on the other hand, brings the work to an animated, joyful conclusion. Full of copious crossings out, the manuscript shows the care taken by the composer on one of his very last works. Reprinted by Leduc in 2001, it was recorded for the first time by the Quatuor Gabriel in 2002.