Programme NotesString Quartet in C minor Op 18 No 4 Beethoven (1770-1827) 1. Allegro ma non tanto 2. Andante scherzoso quasi Allegretto 3. Menuetto & Trio 4. Allegretto - Pretissimo Beethoven first turned his attention to the composition of string quartets when he was approaching his 30th year. The C minor quartet sees him experimenting with movement roles. It is, indeed, the first of several works in which he comes close to reversing the traditional characters of the slow movement and the dance movement. Here, what is in some senses the “slow” movement achieves, through almost unvarying staccato articulation and light-footed contrapuntal play, the character of scherzo - and what looks like the “dance” movement, though it is fairly fast (and most unusually, marked to be played faster at the da capo), is a minuet rather than a scherzo, and the smoother and more sustained of the two inner movements in expression. The outer movements are less exploratory. The first, sees the varied interplay of long, and rather sumptuous, melodic lines with deliberately scrappy little phrases. The finale is a gypsy rondo in the manner essayed earlier by Haydn and later by Brahms.
String Quartet in E minor Op.59 No.2 Beethoven (1770-1827) 1. Allegro 2. Molto Adagio 3. Scherzo - Allegretto 4. Presto This quartet is one of three works that make up the Op.59, dedicated to Count Rasumovsky, the Russian Ambassador in Vienna. In 1808 Rasumovsky founded a string quartet led by Schuppanzzigh, which became one of the most accomplished ensembles of its time. Beethoven’s contempories were used to being surprised by his new ideas but when they heard the Op.59 quartets they were utterly perplexed. Schuppanzigh believed that Beethoven must have written them as a joke and Benhard Romberg, the great cellist, ostentatiously threw his copy onto the floor and trampled on it, before declaring it “the botched work of a lunatic.” In response to Schuppanzigh’s complaint about their difficulties, Beethoven replied “Do you think I worry about your lousy fiddle when the spirit speaks to me?” All four movements of the Op.59 No.2 quartet are in either e minor or e major. The first movement opens with chords described by the composer Vincent d’Indy as “like the sharp cry of an anxious soul.” They are followed by a quiet, questioning figure and then silence, thus creating an unsettled feeling that pervades the whole quartet. Beethoven is said to have conceived the second movement while contemplating the starry sky and thinking of the music of the spheres. This is reflected in the serene opening, but the music soon develops a sense of unease and never recovers the initial mood. The Scherzo, with it’s tricky syncopations, may puzzle the listener until they catch onto the beat and it is in the maggiore section that a Russian melody appears as a compliment to the dedicatee. It is a theme that Mussorgsky later employed on the imposing coronation scene in “Boris Godunov”. The finale, like that of the fourth piano concerto (written the same year) starts in the “wrong” key of C major. The driving rhythm of the theme causes an exhilarating build up as the movement returns to the home key and ends with a final Presto.
String Quartet in C sharp minor, Op.131 Beethoven(1770-1827) 1. Adagio non troppo; 2. Allegro vivace; 3. Allegro moderato; 4. Andante molto cantabile; 5. Presto; 6. Adagio quasi andante; 7. Allegro As the above movement indications might suggest, this work is really a string quartet in one movement. Its separate sections rest but for a moments pause before continuing the stream of music. What Beethoven achieved in this forward-looking work is really the “arch form” which so fascinated Bartok in his later quartets. Briefly this means that a central movement (in this case the “Andante” set of variations) is flanked by outer movements which balance each other in key and thematic material. The design was utterly original and is amazingly successful. The work opens with a slow fugue of Bachian grandeur, clearly an introductory section to something “big”, and moves into a sunny allegro section in a swinging 6/8 rhythm and with lilting melodic lines. The allegro moderato which follows is very short (only 11 bars) and serves as an introduction to the central and most important section. This is the andante cantabile - a lovely, simple theme and six variations with coda, and of fascinating interest as they follow each other in continuous flow. Two of them are expressive adagios. Now comes the Presto, a breathtaking scherzo which uses many of the composer’s well-tried humorous tricks. There are false starts, hiccupping pauses, stutters and stammers, rapid changes of volume and attack. It is all very jolly in a “country bumkin” manner! The Adagio that follows is short and highly concentrated but possesses a quality of melting, unearthly beauty and makes an excellent introduction to the final movement. This is in full sonata form and uses three prominent subjects. It begins defiantly with all instruments in vigorous unison. Soon there is a second subject in E major of long high notes. More and more of material previously heard in other sections is brought into use, and with extraordinary craftsmanship, until the long coda section is reached. Just before the close of the work, a few bars of slow music dramatically set off the vigorous ending. This is a quartet of intense interest (said to be the composer’s favourite work), which epitomises the subjective, philosophical, fantastic, profound and abrupt manner of the late period of Beethoven’s creativity.
Three Divertimenti for String Quartet Benjamin Britten(1913-1976) 1. March 2. Waltz 3. Burlesque Benjamin Britten wrote the Three Divertimenti in 1933 whilst studying composition with John Ireland at the Royal College of Music. He found that his compositional style, which lent towards contemporary European ideals, did not always find favour with the establishment; and in later life said of his College years, "They don't seem very happy in retrospect. I feel I didn't learn very much". The three movements originally belonged to an unfinished suite for quartet entitled "Go play, boy, play". Initially dubbed "PT", "At the party" and "Ragging", they were designed as a series of portraits of school friends until Britten withdrew, revised and renamed them in 1936. The March is one of the earliest examples of Britten's use of this form - a feature which frequently occurs in his later works. The charming Waltz has a peaceful and relaxing character before the almost moto perpetuo energy and virtuosity of the Burlesque. The Stratton Quartet (later to become the Aeolian Quartet) gave the debut performance of the Three Divertimenti at the Wigmore Hall on 25th February 1936. Britten later wrote in his diary that they were received with "sniggers and cold silence". As a consequence, he withdrew them and they were not revived until after his death 40 years later.
String Quartet No.1 in D major Op 25 Benjamin Britten(1913-1976) 1. Andante sostenuto - Allegro vivo 2. Allegro con slancio 3. Andante calmo 4. Molto vivace Written in California in 1941, this string quartet was commissioned by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. Her support of contemporary composers resulted in a number of commissions, including quartets by Frank Bridge, Britten’s teacher and also Bartok and Schoenberg. The first performance of the work by the Coolidge String Quartet took place in Los Angeles on 21 September 1941 and such was its impact that Britten was awarded the Library of Congress medal for services to chamber music. The first movement opens with vibrato strings above pizzicato cello (andante sustention) and alternates with a more energetic theme throughout the movement. The second movement is in F major and centres round a triplet figure which becomes more pronounced as the movement develops. In the third movement the theme is in 5/4 time and is in reflective mood which is often compared to the “Moonlight” interlude in Britten’s opera Peter Grimes. This mood is soon dispelled by the rousing finale which is in sonata-rondo form but with an unusual twist! Here the first subject appears in the dominant, to be followed by the second theme in the tonic, and in the recapitulation the themes appear in reverse order.
String Quartet no.12 in F major, Op.96 “American” Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904) 1. Allegro ma non troppo 2. Lento 3. Molto vivace 4. Finale: Vivace, ma non troppo Born in 1841 to a village butcher, Dvorak left school at the age of eleven to learn the family trade but his talent as a violinist soon became apparent. In 1857 he was sent to the Prague Organ school, from which he graduated two years later and joined the Prague National Theatre Orchestra under the direction of Smetana. Recognition of his compositions came in 1875 when he was awarded a Ministry of Education stipendium by a committee in Vienna that included Brahms. This quartet was written in 1893 during Dvorak’s stay in America as director of the National Conservatoire of Music in New York. The influence of Negro melodies and of deep homesickness is apparent throughout the work, but most noticeably in the expressive melody of the second movement. The third movement a scherzo/trio, echoes the insistent song of an intrusive Spillville bird, heard by the composer during his frequent early morning walks. The quartet ends with a lively rondo which includes an episode recalling the church music of Spillville before returning to the rhythmic energy of the opening, bringing the work to an exciting conclusion.
Quartet in D major Op.20 No.4 Joseph Haydn(1732-1809) 1. Allegro di molto 2. Un pocp Adagio e affettuoso 3. Menuet alla Zingarese 4. Presto e scherzando Early biographers of Haydn suggest that his first string quartets were written in place of the usual string trio, when an extra viola player was present at Baron von Furnberg’s country estate. Op 20 No.4 is part of a set of six quartets known as the “Sun” quartets due to the emblem of a rising sun that appeared on early editions. The set are of pivotal importance in the history of the Viennese classical style. As Donald Tovey said: “With Op 2O the historical development of Haydn’s quartets reaches its goal; and further progress is not progress in any historical sense, but simply the difference between one masterpiece and the next.” The music is also divided more equally between the four instruments. The second movement is a set of four variations on a theme in D minor with each instrument in turn taking the dominant role. The Minuet in Hungarian style has a smiling trio with cello solo. The quartet has many elements of Hungarian gypsy music, most noticeably in the last movement with its rhythmic unpredictability and high spirits. Quartet in Eb, Op.33 No.2 "The Joke" Joseph Haydn(1732-1809) 1. Allegro moderato 2. Scherzo: Allegro 3. Largo e sostenuto 4. Finale: Presto The Op.33 quartets represent a new stage in Haydn’s development as a composer. While composing his set of Op20 quartets, Haydn was determined to prove himself as a composer of true skill and a master of the String Quartet as a medium, hence their academic and complex nature. However once this point had been proven Haydn allowed himself to relax and enjoy the act of composing (and of course performing) the Op33 quartets. This is clearly evident in Quartet No2 “The Joke”. From the outset of the first movement Allegro moderato, the tone set is one of playful simplicity, both thematically and in its homophonic texture, the virtuosic first violin mostly accompanied by the other instruments. The joyful and rustic Scherzo second movement reflects a similar character to the first. Haydn’s sense of humour of course is present throughout his music and the Trio section of this movement is particularly amusing. The glorious third movement opens with viola and cello in counterpoint and although the textures thicken as the movement continues the true beauty of the music lies in the simplicity of the thematic material. The quartet ends with the “Joke” Finale. While the movement is clearly of a humorous nature, the specific “Joke” refers to the final bars of the piece, where Haydn keeps the audience guessing as to when it actually ends!
String Quartet op.50 no.6 "Frog" Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) 1. Allegro 2. Poco adagio 3. Menuetto - Allegretto 4. Finale - Allegro con spirito Under the employment of the Esterhazy family, Haydn lived at their palace in Austro-Hungary away from the cultural centre of Vienna. “I was cut off from the world. There was no one near to torment me or make me doubt myself, and so I had to become original.” Op.50 no.6 (1787) the ‘Frog’ gets its name from the croaking effect achieved by a technique called bariolage; a high speed repetition of the same note on adjacent strings. Haydn uses this in the last movement and this unique sound has also inspired other nick names including ‘The row in Vienna’ and ‘House on fi re!’. The fi rst movement starts with a typical ‘Haydnesque’ joke, taking a standard closing phrase and turning it into an unsettled opening. Immediately in evidence are the increased technical demands placed on the fi rst violin and the complex counterpoint between all four instruments. A sombre slow movement in the style of a sicilienne is followed by a jumping minuet full of dotted rhythms and Scotch snaps. The original manuscripts for the last four quartets in the Op.50 set were found in 1982 after a concert in Melbourne, Australia. Conductor Christopher Hogwood was approached by a lady carrying them in a shopping bag!
String Quartet op.76 no.2 "Fifths" Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) 1. Allegro 2. Andante o piu tosto allegretto 3. Menuet 4. Finale - Vivace assai Haydn wrote some 83 string quartets over a period of 40 years, just as remarkable in quality as in quantity. Under the employment of the Esterhazy family, Haydn lived at their palace in Austro-Hungary away from the culture centre of Vienna. "I was cut off from the world. There was no one near to torment me or make me doubt myself, and so I had to become original." This quartet op.76 no.2 takes its nickname from the opening theme of repeated falling fifths, a motif that is passed around all the instruments. The opening stormy Allegro in the key of D minor is followed by an Andante in D major. The Siciliano-like theme in the first violin is accompanied by pizzicato strumming and provides the basis for a series of ornate variations. The third movement is an extraordinary canon for two voices, with the violins pitted against the viola and cello and is also known as the Hexenmenuett (witches minuet).The last movement opens in the minor with the spirit of a hungarian folk dance and concludes joyously in the major.
Quartet no.3, Op.22 Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) 1. Fugato, sehr langsome Viertel 2. Schnelle Achtel. Sehr energisch 3. Ruhige Viertel. Stets flieBend 4. MaBig schnelle Viertel 5. Rondo, Gemachlich und mit Grazie Hindemith was the foremost German composer of his generation, a highly skilled performer on violin, viola, piano and clarinet and an exacting teacher of composition (Bernstein was one of his pupils). In 1922 he and Licco Amar formed the Amar-Hindemith Quartet specially to perform modern music, his 2nd quartet having been found to difficult by the intended performers. Hindemth played viola in the Quartet, this 3rd quartet being composed at the end of 1921. (His opus 23 was a sonata for solo viola). These works are transitional between his earliest work and the more experimental compositions and the 3rd quartet vividly demonstrates Hindemith's mastery of the meduim and of all his quartets contains his most inventive new sounds. There are five movements, the first, fugato, containing conventional extensions of expressive melodic phrases with a central climax. The second has a meditative theme with variations which culminate in an extended and moving coda. The third owes much to Bartok, with haunting major-minor clashes. The fourth has cadenzas for cello and viola which act as a prelude to the Finale with its two-part invention for viola and cello.
String Quartet no. 1 ("Kreutzer Sonata")(1923) Leos Janacek 1854-1928
It was not until the last decade of his life that Janacek achieved fame and international recognition as a composer. Although he had established himself as a teacher and composer in the Moravian capital of Brno, he remained largely unknown until, aged sixty-two, his work came to the notice of the Prague National Theatre. The performance of one of his early operas met with such success that the aging composer received commissions for five more operas in the last twelve years of his life. Janacek wrote only six major pieces of chamber music during his long career yet as a diligent collector of folk music he was to help set the course for such musicians as Bartok and Kodaly. This quartet, written within a period of eight days was motivated by Tolstoy's tragic novel 'The Kreutzer Sonata'. So moved was the composer upon first reading this work that "Note after note fell smoldering from my pen....I had in mind a miserable woman, suffering, beaten, wretched". Janacek sought to convey the story of a failed marriage, an adulterous affair and a jealous murderer, as a unified drama told musically through expressive, subtly changing motifs. A composition of passionate intensity, it closely follows the plot of the novel and makes effective use of folk material, repetition, declamatory gesture, and abrupt changes of mood and texture. The work as a whole seems to be constructed by the juxtaposition of melodic and rhythmic fragments. The melancholy first movement, with its opening restless motif, sets the tone of the work, growing increasingly agitated and developing an ominous restlessness before fading to a serene close. The second movement with its polka-like theme, features many rhythmic changes and some tremolo passages played sul ponticello 'on the bridge', that provide eerie interludes. Ponticello passages also figure prominently in the anguished third movement. Lyrical passages alternate with moments of hectic excitement to create an unsettling mood. A brief quotation from Beethoven's "Kreutzer" Sonata conveys the power of music to unleash varying passions-love in the woman, jealousy in the husband. The fourth movement opens with a plaintive passage, a reprise of the rising motif from the first movement, as well as a theme marked "like in tears" played by the first violin. However, it quickly begins to gather momentum, rushing to a rhythmically fragmented and passionate climax. Agitated passages depict the murder, yet in a majestic passage that represents a dramatic catharsis, the husband contemplating his dead wife experiences an awakening: "For the first time I saw a human being in her." As with Janacek's operas, the work concludes with human dignity restored to both the victim and the penitent.
6 Moments musicaux Op.44 Gyorgy Kurtag(1926- ) 1. Invocatio 2. Footfalls 3. Capriccio 4. In memoriam Gyorgy Sebok 5. A Tabea Zimmermann ….rappel des oiseaux 6. Les Adieux Born in 1926 in the village of Lugoj in Romania, Kurtag was shut off from democracy and the twentieth century's musical developments for a large part of his life. He spent a quiet childhood enjoying playing piano duets with his mother and when, aged 13, he heard Schubert's Unfinished Symphony on the radio, he decided he wanted to be a composer. Piano and composition lessons in the larger town of Temesvár led him in search of Bartók and, with some difficulty, he crossed the border into Hungary in the hope of gaining piano lessons from the great Hungarian composer, whose return from America was expected. This was the autumn of 1945, and alongside the devastation in Budapest brought about by the war, Kurtág was confronted on arrival with the black flag flying on the Liszt Academy building. Bartók had just died in New York. In 1946, Kurtag enrolled at the Budapest Academy of music to study piano and composition and later studied with Messian and Milhaud in Paris. It was in Paris that he made the realisation that “one note is almost enough” and went on to say that “every single note has a reason. Players must understand that.” Like Bartok, Kurtag has never taught composition but has coached chamber music and piano with almost unparalleled energy throughout his life. He was awarded the Order of the Star with the Golden Wreath by the Hungarian government. This work was written for the 2005 Bordeaux International String Quartet competition.
String Quartet No.10(2001) - David Matthews 1. Lontano 11. Vivace While staying with friends near Canberra, Australia, I wrote down the song of their resident magpie, which they had named Munro. Australian magpies, unlike their British counterparts, have melodious songs, and Munro’s was outstanding. Magpies are one of several Australian bird species which sing diatonically. When a few weeks later I was staying with some other friends in northern New South Wales, I noted three more songs, two of them distinctively melodic. The Koel, an Australian cuckoo, sings a major third like the European cuckoo, but rising instead of falling – in other words upside down, as one might expect from an Australian bird! Koels usually begin with a minor third, rising to the major, then a fourth and sometimes higher. The Pied Butcherbird sings three notes, typically a falling major second followed, most unusually, by a rising augmented fourth. Lastly, the Eastern Whipbird has a crescendoing high note followed be a whip-crack – an extraordinary sound. These four bird songs extended to become the first movement of the string quartet, which I imagined as a kind of dawn chorus. The first eight notes of the initial long violin melody are Munro’s actual song, the remainder a development of it. Then come the three other bird songs, followed by a more elaborate reprise of the violin melody on the viola. The cello’s C string is tuned down to B for this movement. The second movement is a dance for the morning, initiated by the Koel’s song. Its central episode refers to the other songs. The dance subsides into a section marked “Con moto tranquillo”, based on the violin melody, which reaches an expressive climax. The coda returns to the tempo of the opening, and after a partial repeat of Munro’s song there is a final quiet dance in triple time, which ends with the familiar falling third of our cuckoo call, as if to acknowledge that the music has now moved back to this side of the world. Programme notes by David Matthews
String quartet no.2 in a minor op.13 Felix Mendelssohn(1809-1847) 1. Adagio - Allegro vivace 2. Adagio non lento 3. Intermezzo: Allegretto con moto - Allegro di molto 4. Presto - Adagio non lento
Mendelssohn was one of the most precociously gifted composers the world has ever known. By the age of 9 he was performing in public, by 12 he had written his piano quartet, by 14 he had his own private orchestra and by 16 he had produced his first masterpiece, the octet. This quartet was written in 1827 when he was just 18 but more significantly, in the year of Beethoven’s death. Unlike many of his contempories, Mendelssohn appreciated the genius of Beethoven’s late quartets and the last few bars of this quartet recollects the ending of Beethoven’s Cavatina quartet, even using similar slurs from note to note. Mendelssohn also drew upon thematic material from his song “Question” op.9 no.1, inspired by a girl he had fallen in love with. Writing to the composer Adolf Fedrik Lindblad, Mendelssohn offered the following insight “The song, which I include with the quartet is its theme. You will hear its notes in the first and last movements and its sentiment in all four movements”. This was Mendelssohns first quartet, with the op.12 written 2 years later despite its lower opus number. This is a serious work written in an uncompromising, post-Beethoven style. The Adagio introduction leads into the fast and passionate main body of the movement. The slow movement starts serenely in f major but is followed by an anguished d minor fugato section and an extremely terse “poco pui animato, characterised by off-beat viola and second violin accompaniment before returning to the calm of the original motif. The Intermezzo is most notable for its wonderfully transparent scoring whilst the last movement, fast and emotionally charged, sees dramatic tremolos underscoring violin recitatives. The quartet ends with a homage to Beethoven and a return to the calm of the opening.
String Quartet in A major, K. 464 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) 1. Allegro 2. Menuetto-Trio 3. Andante 4. Allegro non troppo In 1782 Joseph Haydn published his first string quartets for a decade, the set of six, Op.33. Doubtless fired by a mixture of admiration and competitiveness, Mozart embarked on a new set of string quartets of his own, which he later dedicated to “my dear friend Haydn”. Unusually for Mozart, the process was “long and laborious”, although the final results sound as spontaneous and fluent as any of the composer’s music. After a private performance of the last three quartets in Haydn’s presence in 1785, the older composer remarked to Mozart’s father: “Before God and as an honest man I tell you that your son is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by name.” The musical ideas of the K. 464 are born of a new, integrated conception of the medium, using counterpoint to intensify the texture. Each of the principal themes is soon subjected to imitative treatment, even the opening of the Minuet. The Andante is the only slow movement of the set in variation form which introduces a repeated-note figure in the cello which has been responsible for the quartet’s nickname the “Drum”. The finale is in sonata form and this is the only one of Mozart’s quartets to end with a whisper.
String Quartet in D major, K.499 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart(1756-1791) 1. Allegretto 2. Menuetto & Trio 3. Adagio 4. Molto Allegro Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg and died in Vienna, aged 35. Without doubt, his musical gifts made him one of the most perfectly equipped musicians of his time. As a child prodigy his sense of pitch was so accurate that it is said he could detect a difference of an eighth of a tone and recall it the next day! His life was brilliant at the dawn and clouded at its close - dying in very poor circumstances, even the friends who accompanied his coffin turned back before a storm, and the burial took place in rain and wind in the common grave allotted to paupers - no-one even marked the spot. After the disciplined style of the six Haydn Quartets of 1782-5, Mozart’s string quartets of the following years are more relaxed, expansive and more concerned with sensuous beauty of harmony and texture. The K.499 or “Hoffmeister” as it is often called (after its original publisher) is a joyful work in four movements. The first movement marked as Allegretto, rather than the usual Allegro, is characterised by the all-pervading falling phrase of the opening theme. The second movement is a Minuet, in which the texture is coloured by a prominent viola part. The third movement - Adagio - is smooth euphonious writing, with many parallel thirds and sixths - these intervals being prominent throughout the quartet. The Finale consists of rapid triplets, chromatically inflected, showing high spirits tempered by hints of wryness in a way that became increasingly characteristic.
String Quartet in F Major Ravel 1. Allegro moderato tres doux 2. Assez vif - tres rythme 3. Tres lent 4. Vif et agite Ravel’s only string quartet was written in 1902, ten years after that of Debussy and twenty years before that of Faure, to whom the work is dedicated. Faure himself was less than kind about the quartet, describing the fourth movement as “stunted, badly balanced, in fact a failure.” However, Ravel’s proposal to rewrite the third and fourth movements prompted Debussy to write: “In the name of the gods of music and of mine, do not touch anything of what you have written of your quartet.” The first movement is in a strict ternary form, reminiscent of the early Piano Quartet of Faure, with the pizzicato second movement full of dramatic rhythmic conflicts. The slow movement is a free rhapsody with a meditative character and is followed by a lively final movement in 5/8 time. On hearing the first performance in 1904, the critic Jean Mangold described Ravel as “one of the masters of tomorrow.”
String Quartet no 13 in A minor, Op 29 no 1, D804 Franz Schubert (1797-1828) “Rosamunde Quartet”
1. Allegro ma non troppo 2. Andante 3. Menuetto: Allegretto 4. Allegro moderato
Written and first performed in 1824, this was the only one of Schubert’s four great quartets to be published in his lifetime. It was dedicated to the violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh whose quartet gave the first performance and takes its title from the theme of the second movement which derives from Schubert’s music for Rosamunde. The drama begins in the first bar with its throbbing bass line and an accompanying figure on second violin above which the first violin enters with a melancholy theme. After a brief silence a secondary theme is heard on second violin, but it is the first theme with its numerous imaginative transformations and modulations which dominates. The second movement in C major has as its main subject matter the music from the third entr’acte of Rosamunde, but here too we are taken on a journey through many changes of key as remote as E major and B flat major and through many melodic twists and turns. Even in the Minuet a sombre mood prevails, lightened only by a dance-like style in the trio section. The final movement begins in a happier vein in A major, although the second subject in C sharp minor casts a shadow and there are moments of tension before the quartet ends on a brighter note. © Christine Talbot-Cooper
String Quartet No.8 in C minor, Op.110 Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) 1.Largo 2.Allegro Molto 3.Allegretto 4.Largo 5.Largo In German notation, 'S' stands for Eb and 'H' for B. Hence, the first four letters of Dmitri SCHostakowitsch's name (spelt the German way) give the sequence D Eb C B. This musical signature is to be found in a number of his works, but above all in Quartet No.8, written in three days in July 1960 after a visit to war-torn Dresden. The quartet was taken by the Soviet critics to express a revulsion to the ravages brought about by Nazism, and this 'party line' was reinforced by the composer's own sub-title 'To the memory of the Victims of Facism'. However, recent views hold that this was partly a 'smoke-screen' to obscure a second meaning of the work which is a condemnation of the Russian totalitarian regime into which Shostakovich had been unwillingly drawn by degrees during his life-time, and now forcibly as a member of the Party. The death of Stalin in 1953 and the partial relaxation of artistic control which followed had not released Shostakovich from the grip of the system he so much despised, and now in 1959 he was sent to America to lead a delegation of composers as a reluctant ambassador for the Soviet regime. The final insult came on his return home, when he was made, under duress, First Secretary of the Composers' Union, a post which required membership of the Communist Party. According to his close friends, such a fate was to Shostakovich comparable to death itself; but, not daring to make his true feelings public, he converted them to music between whose lines his fellow musicians would be sure to read. Some have gone so far as to believe that the composer was contemplating suicide and that Quartet No.8 was intended as a musical suicide note, a coded message to the world of the reason for his death. Whatever the truth of these speculations, it is a fact that the link between third and fourth movements is meant to represent the drone of war-time bombers and the crackle of anti-aircraft fire; also, that one of the most hauntingly beautiful episodes in the fourth movement is a quotation from the revolutionary Russian song 'Languishing in Prison'. What is certain is that, more than any other from his hand, the work is obsessively dominated by Shostakovich's musical signature and contains a number of autobiographical quotations from other works including the 1st and 5th Symphonies, the Piano Trio, the Cello Concerto, and the opera Katerina Ismailova.
The Quartet is conceived as an uninterrupted sequence of five movements for three of which a slow tempo is chosen. In the slow movements it is intensely poignant and personal; in the quicker, bitter and impulsive. The first Largo is a kind of contrapuntal prelude on the DSCH motif. The Allegro Molto which follows is a powerful sonata movement in which the signature theme is developed and at one point augmented (ie played at half speed) by the two violins in canon. This leads to a waltz-like Allegretto, the DSCH figure once again prominent but this time in diminution. A declamatory recitative announces the fourth movement in which Shostakovich quotes the patriotic song mentioned above, and this leads by way of a reappearance of the now familiar signature to the final Largo. Here is a reflection of the opening prelude in the form of a fugue based on the same theme, recapitulating in the coda several other passages from the first movement and thus strengthening the impression of a work not of five separate movements, but of a single thematic idea containing several extended variation-like episodes of contrasting tempi.
Whatever lies behind the enigma of this work, we are left with an abidingly beautiful, accessible piece expressing deeply felt emotions, finely integrated and balanced in its use of homophonic and polyphonic textures. In short, a work which proves that Shostakovich's reputation as one of the 20th century's greatest composers does not rest solely on his symphonies.
Quartet No.9 in Eb Dimitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) Moderato con moto - Adagio - Allegretto - Adagio - Allegro Stalin’s death in 1953 lifted a terrible burden from such an independent artist as Shostakovich, but the relative liberalisation which followed increased the administrative demands as the composer was drawn into the state system. The culmination of this process came in 1960 when, after many years of resisted pressure, Shostakovich was prevailed upon to join the Communist Party. The frequently played eighth quartet stands as a memorial to what he had been. From that time he became an establishment figure. The string quartet increasingly became a form in which Shostakovich could remain himself. The last nine quartets from 1960 to 1974 reveal much more of the man than do the symphonies, concertos and lesser public works. The last five quartets (numbers 9 to 13) tend towards greater introspection. The ninth quartet dates from 1964. It’s five movements are played without a break but the transition to each new movement is easily heard as a new mood is instantly established. In the generally good natured first movement short motifs are contrasted with an undulating thread of accompaniment. The intensely expressive second movement is the heart of the work. The allegretto scherzo re-establishes a more light hearted mood but, after its climax, gives way to a more lyrical passage. The reprise of the scherzo never returns to the jaunty style of its opening and eventually collapses into the fourth movement where strange, savage pizzicato chords and passionate declamations interrupt the general mood of despair. The finale is by far the longest movement, and its rhythmic vitality at times verges on the anarchic. Elements from earlier movements are quoted and integrated into the onward surge of the music. (CGBS)
String Quartet in E minor Giuseppe Verdi(1813-1901) 1. Allegro 2. Andantino 3. Prestissimo - cantabile - prestissimo 4. Allegro assai mosso - poco piu presto After the success of Aida, commissioned to mark the opening of the Suez canal and first performed in Cairo in 1871, Verdi abstained from the composition of opera for fifteen years. It was during this period that Verdi wrote his only mature chamber work. Verdi’s output of instrumental is sparse although he did compose a quantity of instrumental music in his teenage years including six concertos and a number of overtures. The quality of these were questioned and at the age of 18 he was refused admittance to the Conservatory in Milan for not showing sufficient talent! Verdi’s operatic voice is apparent throughout his quartet with the first movement full of dramatic feeling and lyrical inspiration. The spirit of the dance in the two central movements, with the cantilena-like verve of the Andantino and the sharply erupting scherzo (Prestissimo), reveal the hand of a composer who fully grasps the dramatic possibilities of movement and who can conjure up the atmosphere of a ballet by the subtlest means. The work ends with a fugue, most noticeable for the dramatic contrasts in dynamics and the technical demands made of the players.
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