Arthur Foote - Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 38 (1897)

Alvin Rogers and Kees Kooper, violins Richard Maximoff, viola Fred Sherry, cello Mary Louise Boehm, piano Arthur William Foote (1853-1937) was the first American composer of note who did not study in Europe. American art music was still in its infancy, and conservatories/music schools were virtually nonexistent. Foote became the first person to earn a Master of Arts degree in music from an American university, studying under composer John Knowles Paine at Harvard University. He was, along with Paine, one of the “Boston Six“, a group of American composers among the first to develop a distinctly American style of art music. Foote’s Piano Quintet of 1897 is considered by some to be his finest chamber work. The first movement is in the expected sonata-allegro form, whose three themes are in turn impassioned, jaunty, and lyrical. The following intermezzo begins with a theme of a distinctly American flavor. The central trio features exquisite contrapuntal string writing over undulating piano arpeggios. The third movement is a scherzo and trio, with great variety of rhythm and texture and highly idiomatic piano writing. The final movement is a spirited rondo with a folk-like refrain. The B section is a nimble moto perpetuo passed between the piano and first violin (and happens to bear a strong resemblance to the second trio of the scherzo of Schumann’s piano quintet).The C section is lyrical is reminiscent of the third theme of the first movement. The moto perpetuo then reappears, leading us to the final refrain and a rousing conclusion in A major. I. Allegro giusto:appassionato (A minor) 0:00 ---Exposition 0:00 -------Theme 1 (A minor) 0:00 -------Theme 2 (C minor) 1:22 -------Theme 3 (C major) 1:54 -------Closing 2:43 ---Development 3:21 -------Fugato on Theme 2 4:44 ---Recapitulation 5:32 -------Theme 1 (A minor) 5:32 -------Theme 2 (A minor) 6:08 -------Theme 3 (A major) 6:37 ---Coda 7:29 II. Intermezzo. Allegretto (F major) 8:02 ---A 8:02 ---B trio (D flat major) 11:20 ---A 13:49 III. Scherzo. Vivace (D minor) 16:52 ---A 16:52 ---Trio (D major) 18:51 ---A 20:36 ---Coda 21:08 IV. Allegro giusto (A major) 21:26 ---A 21:26 ---B (F# minor) 22:44 ---A 23:46 ---C (E major) 24:17 ---B (A minor) 25:48 ---A 26:27