Someone has asked me about this - piano player G8+ but a little rusty, string players all adult learners between about G5 and G7. At the moment we play fairly simple classical quartets. Mozart, Handel, etc. Any style, the main thing is they just should be accessible to us. I would play the piano, although I do play violin with quartet occasionally.

I was going to say the obvious Brahms and Dvorak but they might be too hard. Not playing cello, piano or viola, I wouldn't know. The Brahms has a cracking 3rd mvt though.

Edit - I can't spell.

Dvorak might not be too bad. There's one by Shostakovich too..............!

Thanks for replies. Sorry if this is a thick question (I really don't know anything about quintets ...) Which quintets by Dvorak? The chamber stuff I know is the American? Is that what you mean? Sorry if this is basic stuff that I just don't know ...

It's Dvoraks Piano Quintet Op 81 (String Quartet plus a piano). The 'American' is just a String Quartet.

Thank you! I'll look it up.

I find most of the movements of the Shostakovich quite a bit easier than the Dvorak and much easier than the Brahms (which I would love to play but never will). The Scherzo of the Shostakovich (second movement IIRC) is the most difficult, and would be beyond your strings. It's a highly regarded piece (very different from Handel and Mozart ) and I much prefer it to the Dvorak.

I scraped through G8 piano c.1952, but am a bit better than that now.

Uh oh. Is the Brahms that hard? I'm playing it with 2 pros and 2 other students next term. Was hoping for a nice relaxed weekly rehearsal...

Shostakovich is accessible
Brahms is difficult. Trout is difficult.

What about Mozart Piano Quintet for Piano and Wind?

What about Trios too?

Hello again! Another thickie question!!!

Apart from 'The Schostakovitch Quintet' does it have a opus no/name/key???

Trout would defo be beyond us. I am beginning to be hopeful about the Schostakovitch. I did piano at uni, but that was 15 years ago. So not bristling with confidence.

Many thanks for all your suggestions. Might indeed look into some trios. As for wind quintets, is the suggestion that these are playable by stringy people too?

I played the Mozart quintet for piano and wind just yesterday in the string version - it works really well.

Shostakovitch is Piano Quintet in G Minor Op57. It's good fun, and looks like from other posters comments that its your best bet.

If you are willing to try unusual piano quintets you could try some of the ones supplied by Merton Music. Their catalogue grades each of the string parts (but not the piano parts) according to difficulty.

Merton Music is based in the UK and supplies out-of-copyright and mostly out-of-print music for a price that is little more than the cost of printing the music out. There is a US version of their catalogue here. The piano quintets are near the end of it. Their UK contact details are here.