Originally posted by jayne lee wilson
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The precipitous descent (you'll hate me forever for saying this, but I'm going to take that risk anyway) from Schönberg's monumental and magnificent Quartet in D minor to the lucubrations of Mr Volans is - to me, at least - analogous to one from the peak of Everest to the depths of the Marianas trench! Two distinguished living composers of my acquaintance have, independently of one another, described that Schönberg piece as the most important quartet of its time after Beethoven - which it is! Mendelssohn Op. 80 and some of your other choices are so apposite in this context, too! I don't believe that the symphony is a dying concept, but there can indeed be no doubt that the string quartet is the most enduring of musical media today; one has only to think of the past 40+ years in which Shostakovich, Xenakis, Carter, Holmboe, Maconchy, Simpson, Matthews and heaven knows how many others return and return again (or did) to this ever-attractive ensemble as the jumping-off point for yet another work! I've written only one. Maybe one day there'll be another. No matter. The string quartet's future is absolutely assured. -
SQ Example 1
Example 1:
Gabriel Fauré is best known for his lyric drama Pénélope, but he did produce a quantity of chamber music.
As M. Nectoux tells
us, "Fauré's familiarity with the church modes is reflected in the frequently modal character of his music, particularly in the elision of the leading note, facilitating both modulation to a neighbouring key and the pungent use of the plagal cadence. But the flexibility of the modulations to remote keys and the sudden short cuts back to the original key are unprecedented aspects of Fauré’s originality.
"His harmonic richness is matched by his melodic invention. He was a consummate master of the art of unfolding a melody from a harmonic and rhythmic cell: he constructed chains of sequences that convey – despite their constant variety, inventiveness and unexpected turns – an impression of inevitability."
In 1924, at the very end of his life, he gave us his sole string quartet. It is opus 121, is in E minor and consists of three movements.
I Allegro moderato
II Andante
III Allegro
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Really, Sidney?? I'd have thought his songs and choral music, e.g. the Requiem, are much further up the popularity stakes, also some of his chamber and piano music. Even a few of his few orchestral works!Originally posted by Sydney Grew View PostI keep hitting the Escape key, but I'm still here!Comment
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Nah. Best known for writing the sig. tune for Listen with Mother, surely.Originally posted by LeMartinPecheur View Post
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How could I have forgotten that?Originally posted by Bryn View PostNah. Best known for writing the sig. tune for Listen with Mother, surely.
Probably a formative influence on me - I recall my delight when I discovered it was 'proper concert-hall music' many years later
I keep hitting the Escape key, but I'm still here!Comment
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This is a fascinating byway of the genre that I've had in my collection for a long time:
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Terrific release here as Bryn recently highlighted.....
Lovely performances on gut strings etc., and good to see Charlotte Gardner (freelance for Gramophone, BBC etc) doing the note....Comment
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Even better, methinks, is the box of the complete completed string quartet works of Schönberg, Berg and Webern played by that remarkable French ensemble Quatuor Diotima (https://www.discogs.com/Quatuor-Diot...lease/12576840 )...Originally posted by jayne lee wilson View PostTerrific release here as Bryn recently highlighted.....
Lovely performances on gut strings etc., and good to see Charlotte Gardner (freelance for Gramophone, BBC etc) doing the note....Comment
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Happy to have both available but even happier that they are quite different in their approach and timbres.Originally posted by ahinton View PostComment
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Superglued chamber playing seems potty, unless one has a leak.Originally posted by jayne lee wilson View PostTerrific release here as Bryn recently highlighted.....
Lovely performances on gut strings etc., and good to see Charlotte Gardner (freelance for Gramophone, BBC etc) doing the note....
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I've been listening to Robert Simpson's Quartets a lot recently,prompted by a post on the you tube thread.
I have discovered so many other fine String Quartet cycles in the 9 years since this thread started ( I wonder why aeolium has stopped posting)
Absolutely top notch IMVHO are Weinberg,Vagn Holmboe,Meyer and Bacewicz.
https://fdleone.com/2016/09/15/the-s...-20th-century/ I think Krzysztof Meyer has written two more since that was written
Absolutely love this
“Music is the best means we have of digesting time." — Igor StravinskyComment
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Thanks for the link to the Meyer article ER. i don’t know his work as well as you, but I’m always impressed.Originally posted by Edgy 2 View Post
Will definitely try that Ivanovs quartet.I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.
I am not a number, I am a free man.Comment
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