Dvorák, Antonin - Piano Quartet E-Flat Major, Op 87 - edited by Antonín Pokorný and Karel Solc - Bärenreiter

At the end of the nineteenth century, the piano quartet was established as a separate (and sophisticated) chamber music genre. It's not surprising that the publisher Fritz Simrock asked Antonín Dvorák for another contribution to the genre.

Dvorák composed the second Piano Quartet in E-flat major op. 87 during the summer months of 1889. This period brought with it a spell of prodigious creativity: "My head is so full, if a human being could only write it all down straight away! […] It is unexpectedly easy and the melodies simply flow towards me. Thanks be to God!" These words could describe the quartet itself, a work with Dvorák's signature carefree tone and nationalistic coloring. The primary source for this publication was the first edition (1890).