(Welsh Interlude)
'Jiwbili Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg'
Syr JOHN EDWARD LLOYD , F.B.A.
(A Welsh Talk by Sir John Edward
Lloyd, F.B.A.)

Relayed from
The National Museum of Wales
(Reardon Smith Lecture Theatre)
FRANK THOMAS (violin)
QUEENIE ROGERS (violin)
NINA ROCHARD (viola)
RONALD HARDING (violoncello
MABEL DRAPER (pianoforte)
Brahms's Piano Quintet in F minor is regarded as his most important early work. It was originally conceived as a string quintet, but after it had been thoroughly tested in that form by Joachim and his colleagues, they explained to Brahms that no five string players could hope to achieve the huge effects which the music clearly demanded. Brahms then rewrote it as a sonata for two pianos, in which form it is still often heard. Finally he adapted it for piano quintet.
The first movement, big and dignified, is deeply tragic in its mood ; the slow movement, also solemn, is a very broad, song-like movement with two main themes. The third is a scherzo moulded in Beethoven's lines, and is certainly one of the finest scherzos that Brahms ever wrote. The Finale begins with a mysterious introduction, and goes on as a full-sized movement with the usual two main themes, but without a real development.