I was asked recently by a rather educated and artistic gentleman what chamber music is.  I had been throwing around the term, not realizing that a majority of the population is unaware of its meaning.

As I will be posting some chamber music soon, I thought to clarify what it is.

Wikipedia has a nice entry on the term, but I define it more loosely:  Chamber music is simply written for any combination of instruments, usually symphonic, but assembled in smaller groups than a full orchestra, often for 3 - 8 players.

Popular chamber music ensembles consist of:

the string quartet

woodwind quintet

brass quartet and quintet

X trio or X quintet, where “X” could be any instrument, and the others usually strings, such as a piano trio (piano, violin, cello), or clarinet quintet (clarinet plus string quartet), etc.

Wikipedia broadly suggests that a “chamber orchestra” can size up to 50 musicians… which I’d instead consider to be a full orchestra (the normal size of a symphony in Mozart’s time, for example, was quite small compared to the orchestras of today.. yet it was still a true “symphony orchestra”).  In any case, chamber orchestras probably don’t quite fit into the common perception of chamber music, which can be played “in any chamber”, or room.

It is worth noting that chamber music can be among the most expressive and complicated in the repertoire.  Indeed, size does not matter in the world of music, and chamber sounds can be as bold and moving as the grandest of philharmonic orchestras.

Some of the string quartets of Beethoven are notoriously difficult to both play and to understand, even for modern ears.  Yet also, some chamber music has such a profound influence, it pushes through a society like wildfire until everyone has digested it. The famous music used in Oliver Stone’s movie “Platoon” was originally scored for string quartet by Samuel Barber.  The uniquely scored and haunting Quartet For the End of Time by Messiaen demonstrates just how intimate a small collection of instruments can be, as the composer chose the medium to express his experiences as a POW in WW II.

The phenomenal Sonata for Violin and Cello by Ravel shows how only two instruments, when treated for the full capacity of their range and potential, can produce mind-bending music to rival anything else ever written, ever.

And of course, the solo Cello suites by none other than J.S. Bach remain a testament to the power of the single voice.

Chamber music is a great example of how it is often possible to do more with less.