piano quartet

American  

noun

1. a musical composition scored for piano and three other instruments, typically violin, viola, and cello.

2. an instrumental group consisting of a pianist and three other musicians, typically a violinist, violist, and cellist.

3. a group of four pianists playing music written or arranged for four pianos.

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Etymology

Origin of piano quartet

First recorded in 1930–35

Example Sentences

Fauré Quartett The German piano quartet is joined by guest bassist Luis Primera for a program that includes pieces by Schubert, Vaughan Williams and Frank Bridge.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 15, 2019

Let us hope that such dizzying career moves become culturally commonplace, and that Metallica will soon reform as a piano quartet, with a series of lunchtime concerts at the Frick.

From The New Yorker • Dec. 7, 2018

Classical music concert Violinist Daniel Hope, violist Paul Neubauer, cellist David Finkel and pianist Wu Han perform works by Brahms, Schumann and a one-movement piano quartet premiered in 1876 by a 16-year-old Gustav Mahler.

From Washington Post • Apr. 6, 2015

The piece is darkly attractive, artful and moving, and the ensemble, a piano quartet, played with the warmth and soulfulness it demanded.

From New York Times • Jul. 26, 2010

There was little time for real work in composition, but a couple of songs and the beginning of a piano quartet were inspired by the view of Lake Geneva and its exquisite surroundings.

From The World's Great Men of Music Story-Lives of Master Musicians by Brower, Harriette