Mahler’s Piano Quartet in A minor (c. 1876) is a 10–12 minute, single-movement chamber work for piano, violin, viola, and cello, written when the composer was 15 or 16 at the Vienna Conservatory.
It is his only surviving instrumental chamber piece, featuring a dramatic, “Nicht zu schnell” (not too fast) sonata-form structure.
Key Details about the Quartet Movement:
- Context: Composed as a student, it shows influences of Brahms but also hints at Mahler’s future symphonic style.
- Structure: It consists of one complete movement and a 32-measure fragment of a Scherzo in G minor.
- History: The piece was forgotten until rediscovered by Alma Mahler in the 1960s, with its modern premiere on February 12, 1964, in New York.
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