Talking about string quartets

[EdgeleyRob]

Edmund Rubbra described the string quartet as 'the purest and most lucid texture available to a composer'.

There are so many composers who seem to me to have more to say in their quartets than in,for example,their symphonies.
Others may disagree but to my ears the quartets of Beethoven,Shostakovich,Weinberg,Vagn Holmboe and so many others seem to be the heart and soul of their output.

I listen to a lot of string quartets and I think it's just the most perfect musical combination.

Any thoughts? or am I talking nonsense (again!).

[Richard Barrett]

Dunno about Rubbra, but yes... it often brings out a more inward side of composers of course, partly because of the intimacy of these sonic resources and partly because of the way history has moulded both the repertoire and the performative approach.

I see your Beethoven et al and I raise you Haydn, Bartók and Ferneyhough...

[Richard Tarleton]

Distillation and transparency are two more key words I think. I've been listening repeatedly (obsessively) to those of Smetana, Janáček and Britten.

As for those who play them, I started this thread 18 months ago.

[verismissimo]

... I see your Beethoven et al and I raise you Haydn, Bartók and Ferneyhough...

Yes, yes, yes. And maybe Tippett. But not Mozart, I would have thought.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I see your Beethoven et al and I raise you Haydn, Bartók and Ferneyhough...

... and Dillon, Schönberg and Schubert.

But not Mozart: superb Music in the later Köchels, but more "inner" with five or three string players.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

But not Mozart

SNAP!

[kea]

... and Dillon, Schönberg and Schubert.

Some thoughts should also be spared for Roslavets, Zemlinsky, Gerhard and Harvey. And Mendelssohn's first two. And Holliger!

The string quartet is of course a very well balanced medium and one that sounds quite full without requiring too many players, but a good deal of why it takes pride of place in so many composers' work is because of the "canon" of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven and all the very distinguished ensembles that formed in order to promote that repertoire. String quartets are seen as being Serious and Inward and such things whereas, say, brass quartets or the trio sonata hardly get a look in.

(Also the Mozart quartets are pretty gangsta, don't be hatin yo.)

[Ian]

yes, yes, yes. And maybe tippett. But not mozart, i would have thought.

k465

[ahinton]

... and Dillon, Schönberg and Schubert.

...and Maconchy, Simpson and Carter (though not so certain about Rihm or Villa-Lobos)...

Although I'm not sure that I concur wholly with Rubbra's sentiment, it's closer to the mark than whoever it was on whose observation that the string quartet was "the highest form of music" Sorabji once poured scorn; what has to be admitted about the medium is, however, that it has remained one of the most enduring in music since the teenage Haydn began to write quartets within a few years of the death of J. S. Bach.

Your mention of Schönberg reminds me that the first example cited in the Wiki item about the tring quartet at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_quartet is a passage from what I think is the finest of his quartets, the D minor one although, sadly, it's not actually played by a string quartet there...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

String quartets are seen as being Serious and Inward and such things

Yes - and I used "inner" in reference to Mozza ... err ... Mozart earlier. But it's at least as much a medium that brings out composers' playfulness and invention as well.

I'm glad Carter and Gerhard have been mentioned - I'd add Babbitt, too.

EDIT: ... eek ... and Feldman. This list gets longer the more names occur to me.

[vinteuil]

... not Mozart, I would have thought.

k465

K421

[teamsaint]

In somehwere similar to Ferney's parallel universe, (where Mahler moved on to finish all 15 symphonies and then started on his SQ cycle ?) I think Britten would have written at least 3 more SQs.
always a good sign when you love something, and know there is still much more to discover.

[EdgeleyRob]

So many string quartets,so little time.
LvB,DSCH,Weinberg and VH were the first names that came into my head because I've been listening to these works a lot recently.
Another thing,when I listen to DSCH,Simpson and Bartok quartets (and more and more with some Weinberg too) I am often reminded of late Beethoven.
Although a lot of great quartets were written between Beethoven Op 135 and the great cycles of the 20th century, is it fair to say none of these reached the same great heights,except for maybe Schubert D887 and Mendelssohn Op 80 ?

[EdgeleyRob]

As for Mozart,gotta be K387,
Perfect.

[ahinton]

So many string quartets,so little time.
LvB,DSCH,Weinberg and VH were the first names that came into my head because I've been listening to these works a lot recently.
Another thing,when I listen to DSCH,Simpson and Bartok quartets (and more and more with some Weinberg too) I am often reminded of late Beethoven.
Although a lot of great quartets were written between Beethoven Op 135 and the great cycles of the 20th century, is it fair to say none of these reached the same great heights,except for maybe Schubert D887 and Mendelssohn Op 80 ?

Good question - and I'm so pleased that you've mentioned Mendelssohn Op. 80 because although his earlier five quarets are nothing if not attractive anc craftsmanlike this final one, notwithstanding its rather obvious debt to Beethoven Op. 95, is truly stunning.

Of all those mentioned who have well over a dozen quartets to each of their respective names, Weinberg rises to the top of those examples that have only relatively recently begun to draw the appreciation that they so richly deserve.