Chamber Music

For Oxford's fourth "Listener's Guide," after Michael Steinberg's Choral Masterworks, Keller (program annotator, New York Philharmonic & San Francisco Symphony; contributing editor, Chamber Music magazine) has selected 192 of the most often performed chamber compositions by 56 composers, beginning with J.S. Bach and including living composers. The repertory is limited to pieces that use between two and eight instruments and excludes duo sonatas with piano. The entries are all essays of approximately two pages in length, similar to what one would expect for concert program notes, the origin of many of them. Keller includes a small amount of biographical data about the composers, the dates of composition, first performances, and dedication. The essays are mostly historical, well written, and quite informative. Each composition is described in terms of its emotional content, with a minimal amount of technical jargon.