Piano Quintet in D minor (Bomtempo)


The Quintet in D minor, B74, for piano, 2 violins, viola and cello, is a chamber work by Portuguese composer João Domingos Bomtempo. A performance takes about 20 min.

History

Although he composed some ten works for piano quintet, the Quintet in E major, Op.16 remained the only published piece of this genre by Bomtempo. The only manuscript of the Quintet in D minor, B74 is preserved in the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal. It is inscribed thus: Trois Quintetti pour forte piano, deux violons, alto et violoncelle, but contains only this one work. The manuscript is damaged and incomplete, missing the piano part in many places, especially in the middle section.
Composition date of the quintet is unknown. It was reconstructed into integrity by Portuguese composer Filipe Pires and received its first contemporary performance in 1992, during the celebrations of 150 years of Bomtempo's death. The musicians were and the Lisbon String Quartet.
Like his other quintets, Bomtempo arranged this one for piano sextet, of which version only one sheet survived.

Structure

The quintet is in three movements, united by musical themes and proceeding without pauses :
After the Largo introduction with an important figure in the bass, the gloomy serious principal theme of the sonata Allegro is stated. It is followed by an even more intense section, which leads to the secondary theme. The development section is the longest part of the quintet and is built of several episodes of different character and in different keys. At the end of it, some chords introduce the next movement.
The central Andante is a three-part structure. While the piano is almost silent in the opening section, it has a prominent role in the middle. The closing section is slightely altered variation of the opening, with some piano passages added. It is followed by a portion of music serving transitory to the finale.
The last movement, Allegro, is actually the continuation of the first: the introduction is omitted here, and the music begins right with the main theme, then goes on to the secondary. Both being much shortened, composer proceeds to the D major coda, which closes the work.

Recordings

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