Amazing music/performances: Beethoven String Quartet No 2 Op 18 in G major Alban Berg Quartet

Beethoven String Quartet No 2 Op 18 in G major Alban Berg Quartet

La Casa di Davide

Published on Dec 31, 2014

Ludwig van Beethoven String Quartet No 2 in G major op. 18 No. 2
Alban Berg Quartet
Günter Pichler 1 violin, Gerhard Schulz 2 violin, Thomas Kakuska viola, Valentin Erben cello
Allegro 0:00
Adagio cantabile – Allegro – Tempo I 9:18
Scherzo: Allegro 16:08
Allegro molto, quasi presto 20:35
**********************************************************************From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The String Quartet No. 2 in G major, op. 18, No. 2, was written by Ludwig van Beethoven between 1798 and 1800 and published in 1801.

It consists of four movements:

1. Allegro
2. Adagio cantabile – Allegro – Tempo I
3. Scherzo: Allegro
4. Allegro molto, quasi presto

Of the Op. 18 string quartets, this one is the most grounded in 18th-century musical tradition.^[1] According to Steinberg, “In German-speaking countries, the graceful curve of the first violin’s opening phrase has earned the work the nickname of Komplimentier-Quartett, which might be translated as ‘quartet of bows and curtseys’.”^[2]

The nickname may have originated from one of Haydn’s last string quartets written about the same time (Op. 77, No. 1; 1799), which was also known as the Komplimentier-Quartett. Haydn was Beethoven’s teacher at the time, and there are similarities in style between the two quartets. They are also both in the key of G major.^[3]

After he finished the quartet, Beethoven was not satisfied with the second movement and wrote a replacement. Sketches of the original slow movement survive and a complete version has been reconstructed by musicologist Barry Cooper.^[4] It was performed publicly, possibly for the first time, by the Quatuor Danel in the Cosmo Rodewald Concert Hall at the Martin Harris Centre, University of Manchester, on 30 September 2011

make music part of your life series: Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy String Quartet No. 6 in F minor, Op. 80

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy String Quartet No. 6 in F minor, Op. 80

SchumannQuartett

Published on Mar 7, 2014

1. Allegro vivace assai min 00:09
2. Allegro assai min 07:41
3. Adagio min 12:29
4. Finale: Allegro molto min 21:20

Founded in Cologne in 2007, the Schumann Quartet is composed of the brothers Erik, Ken and Mark Schumann, along with violist Liisa Randalu. In May 2013 the Quartet has won the 1st Prize at the international String Quartet Competition “Quatuor à Bordeaux”, after it had already won the Competition “SCHUBERT AND MODERN MUSIC” in Graz (Austria) in 2012. Likewise the four musicians were among the prizewinners at the renowned Paolo Borciani Competition (2011) and at the 7th International Chamber Music Competition in Osaka (2011).

The ensemble is currently studying under the guidance of Harald Schoneweg (Cherubini Quartet) at Cologne Musikhochschule, and with Günter Pichler (Alban Berg Quartet) at the Queen Sofia College of Music, Madrid.

They also continue to receive valuable instruction from Heime Müller, Eberhard Feltz, Henk Guittart and the members of Alban Berg Quartet.

The ensemble is supported by scholarships from Villa Musica Rheinland-Pfalz (Mainz) and the Irene Steels-Wilsing Foundation, and was previously selected for a grant by the Werner Richard / Dr. Carl Dörken Foundation.

Ever since the 2009/10 season, the Schumann Quartet has enjoyed the status of Artist in Residence in the “Erstklassik” recital series held in Düsseldorf’s Robert Schumann Auditorium. They are also a welcome, often-invited guest in other concert halls of their home region North Rhine Westphalia, such as the Beethovenhaus in Bonn. Also the quartet goes regularly on tour to Japan, Canada, Austria and Italy.

The artists have teamed up with chamber music partners such as pianist Henri Sigfridsson, oboist Ramón Ortega Quero, clarinetist David Orlowsky, cellist Nicolas Altstaedt and violist Nils Mönkemeyer.

WDR Classical Radio (Cologne) has recorded the Schumann Quartet several times — most recently in January 2013, with a live concert broadcast of works by Mozart and Verdi, along with the 3rd String Quartet by recently deceased Düsseldorf composer Jürg Baur.

Released in April 2013, the Schumann Quartet’s début CD features works by Beethoven, Bartók and Brahms.

Mendelssohn: Four Pieces for String Quartet, Op.81 – 2. Scherzo

 

#EmersonStringQuartet

Published on Nov 8, 2014

Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group North America

Mendelssohn: Four Pieces for String Quartet, Op.81 – 2. Scherzo · Emerson String Quartet

℗ 2005 Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg

Composer: Mendelssohn

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  • “Mendelssohn: Four Pieces for String Quartet, Op.81 – 2. Scherzo” by Emerson String Quartet (Google Play • iTunes • AmazonMP3)

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historic musical bits: Beethoven – String Quartet No.5 in A major, Op.18 – Végh Quartet – 1952

 

Beethoven – String Quartet No.5 in A major, Op.18 – Végh Quartet – 1952

PalamedeDePalamede

Published on Mar 9, 2013

Ludwig van Beethoven: The Early String Quartets, Opus 18
String Quartet No. 5 in A major, Op. 18, No. 5
(Streichquartett Nr. 5 in A-dur, Op. 18, Nr. 5)

I. Allegro
II. Menuetto
III. Andante cantabile
IV. Allegro

Végh Quartet
Sándor Végh, 1st violin
Sándor Zöldy, 2nd violin
Georges Janzer, viola
Paul Szabo, violoncello

The 1952 Haydn Society Recordings

 

hidtoric musical bits: , Brahms String Quartet Op. 51, No.1 in C minor , great compositions/performances

Brahms String Quartet Op. 51 No.1 in C minor

The “terse,” “tragic”^[2] String Quartet No. 1 in C minor is remarkable for its organic unity and for the harmonically sophisticated, “orchestrally inclined” outer movements that bracket its more intimate inner movements.^[1] Structurally and thematically, the first movement shows the influence of Schubert’s Quartettsatz, D. 703, also in C minor.^[2] The quartet consists of four movements:

1. Allegro (C minor)
2. Romanze: Poco adagio (A-flat major)
3. Allegretto molto moderato e comodo (F minor)
4. Allegro (C minor
   ************************************************************
   

String Quartet: Amadeus Quartet

Norbert Brainin (1st violin)
Siegmund Nissel (2nd violin)
Peter Schidlof (viola)
Martin Lovett (cello)

The Amadeus Quartet was a world famous string quartet founded in 1947.
Because of their Jewish origin, violinists Norbert Brainin, Siegmund Nissel and Peter Schidlof (later violist) were driven out of Vienna after Hitler’s Anschluss of 1938.
Brainin and Schidlof met in a British internment camp on the Isle of Man; many Jewish refugees had the misfortune of being confined by the British as “enemy aliens” upon seeking refuge in the UK. 
Brainin was released after a few months, but Schidlof remained in the camp, where he met Nissel.
Finally Schidlof and Nissel were released, and the three of them were able to study with violin teacher Max Rostal, who taught them free of charge.
It was through Rostal that they met cellist Martin Lovett, and in 1947 they formed the Brainin Quartet, which was renamed the Amadeus Quartet in 1948. [Wikipedia]
*************************************************************************
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 Johannes Brahms‘s String Quartets Nos. 1 in C minor and 2 in A minor were completed in Tutzing, Bavaria, during the summer of 1873, and published together that autumn as Opus 51. They are dedicated to his friend Theodor Billroth.

Composition

Brahms was slow in writing his first two string quartets. We know from a letter from Joseph Joachim that a C-minor quartet was in progress in 1865, but it may not have been the same work that would become Opus 51 No. 1 in 1873. Four years before publication, however, in 1869, we know for certain that the two quartets were complete enough to be played through. But the composer remained unsatisfied. Years passed. New practice runs then occurred in Munich, probably in June 1873, and Brahms ventured south of the city to the small lakeside town of Tutzing for a summer respite. There, with the Würmsee (as Lake Starnberg was then called) and the Bavarian Prealps as backdrop, he put the finishing touches on the two quartets.

He was 40 years old at the time of publication. Brahms regarded the string quartet as a particularly important genre. He reportedly destroyed some twenty string quartets before allowing the two Op. 51 quartets to be published.^[1] At least one of the quartets (No. 1 in C minor) had been complete as early as 1865 but Brahms continued to revise it for nearly a decade.^[1]

Explaining his slow progress to a publisher in 1869, Brahms wrote that as Mozart had taken “particular trouble” over the six “beautiful” Haydn Quartets, he intended to do his “very best to turn out one or two passably decent ones.”^[1] According to his friend Max Kalbeck, Brahms insisted on hearing a secret performance of the Op. 51 quartets before they were published, after which he substantially revised them.

During Brahms’s lifetime, the string quartet, like the symphony, was a genre dominated by the contributions of Ludwig van Beethoven. In choosing the key of C minor for the first of his quartets, Brahms may have been seeking to acknowledge as well as break free from Beethoven’s paralyzing influence, since Beethoven composed some of his greatest and most characteristic works in that key.^[1] (Brahms likewise chose the key of C minor for his First Symphony.)

 Structure

The “terse,” “tragic”^[2] String Quartet No. 1 in C minor is remarkable for its organic unity and for the harmonically sophisticated, “orchestrally inclined” outer movements that bracket its more intimate inner movements.^[1] Structurally and thematically, the first movement shows the influence of Schubert’s Quartettsatz, D. 703, also in C minor.^[2] The quartet consists of four movements:

1. Allegro (C minor)
2. Romanze: Poco adagio (A-flat major)
3. Allegretto molto moderato e comodo (F minor)
4. Allegro (C minor)

The String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, also highly unified thematically, is comparatively lyrical, although culminating in a dramatic and propulsive finale whose tension “derives…from a metrical conflict between theme and accompaniment.”^[3] Like Brahms’s Piano Quartet No. 1 and Violin Concerto, the A minor quartet has a final movement modeled on a Hungarian folk dance, in this case a czárdás.^[4] The quartet consists of four movements:

1. Allegro non troppo (A minor)
2. Andante moderato (A major)
3. Quasi Minuetto, moderato (A minor)
4. Finale. Allegro non assai (A minor)

With all the movements in A minor or A major, the String Quartet No. 2 is therefore homotonal. Each quartet lasts about half an hour in performance.

 

Critical reception

The Op. 51 string quartets were received “respectfully if without great enthusiasm” at their respective premieres in October and December 1873.^[5] While the quartets have enjoyed less popularity than some of Brahms’s other chamber music, they helped revitalize “the great but moribund tradition” of the string quartet that had stagnated after Beethoven and Schubert, and helped inspire the quartets of Arnold Schoenberg, Béla Bartók, and other twentieth century composers.^[5] In his famous essay “Brahms the Progressive”, Schoenberg praised the quartets for their advanced harmony and for the unprecedented completeness with which Brahms derives each movement from a tiny motif.^[6]

The Op. 51 quartets have been recorded by such ensembles as the Amadeus Quartet, Quartetto Italiano, Alban Berg Quartet, Cleveland Quartet, Tokyo Quartet, Emerson Quartet and Takács Quartet.

 

The return of the past – THE LP: The Fine Arts Quartet: Courtly Music of Mendelssohn (4/6: Four Pieces for String Quartet, op. 81) , great compositions/performance s

The Fine Arts Quartet: Courtly Music of Mendelssohn (4/6: Four Pieces for String Quartet, op. 81)

VinylRecordSound

Published on Jun 27, 2013

COURTLY MUSIC OF MENDELSSOHN

3 LP BOX SET
“CONCERT DISC” Label – Catalogue number CS-505

Video 4/6: Four Pieces for String Quartet, op. 81
(Recorded in 1965)

I. Tema con Variazioni: Andante sostenuto (at 0:10)
II. Scherzo: Allegro Leggiero (at 6:36)
III. Capriccio: Andante con moto (at 10:04)
IV. Fuga: A tempo ordinario (at 15:37)

THE FINE ARTS QUARTET

Leonard Sorkin, violin
Abram Loft, violin
Gerald Stanick, viola
George Sopkin, cello

 

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Schubert – “String Quartet in E Major, Op. post. 125 Nr. 1, D-87 (November 1813 ?)- Amadeus String Quartet , great compositions/performances

Schubert –  “String Quartet in E Major, Op. post. 125 Nr. 1, D-87

(November 1813 ?)- Amadeus String Quartet 

incontrario motu

 

Published on May 5, 2014

Franz Schubert:   String quartet D.87 in E flat major

I. Allegro moderato 0:00
II. Scherzo. Prestissimo 6:15
III. Adagio 12:00
IV. Allegro 13:40

Amadeus String Quartet (Norbert Brainin – Siegmund Nissel – Peter Schidlof – Martin Lovett)
Studio recording, London, 23-24.V.195
************************************************************************

Franz Schubert:  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

 Portrait of Franz Schubert by Franz Eybl (1827)

Franz Schubert (31 January 1797 – 19 November 1828) was an Austrian composer. He was an extremely prolific composer, so that when he died at age thirty-one he had composed over six hundred secular vocal works (mainly Lieder), seven complete symphonies, sacred music, operas, incidental music and a large body of chamber and piano music.

Otto Erich Deutsch, an Austrian musicologist, listed 998 compositions in the first comprehensive catalogue of Schubert’s works. This catalogue was first published in 1951 as Schubert: Thematic Catalogue of all his Works in Chronological Order. A revised edition appeared in German in 1978. Later editions of the catalogue contained minor updates.

Publication of Schubert’s compositions started during his lifetime, by opus number. After the composer’s death, posthumous opus numbers continued to be assigned to new publications of his work until 1867 (Op. Post. 173).

There are two attempts to publish everything Schubert has composed in a single edition:

• From 1884 to 1897 Breitkopf & Härtel published twenty-two series of Franz Schubert’s Werke: Kritisch durchgesehene Gesammtausgabe, known as the “Alte Gesamt-Ausgabe” (AGA, the former complete edition). From 1965 Dover Publications started to reprint this edition, and later it was made available at the IMSLP website.
• The Neue Schubert-Ausgabe (NSA), also known as the New Schubert Edition (NSE), is published by Bärenreiter (Kassel). It proposes eighty-three volumes, in eight series. Publication of all volumes has been scheduled to conclude in 2016. Plans for this edition began as early as 1963, with the foundation of the International Schubert Society, headquartered at the University of Tübingen, Germany.

Texts of Schubert’s vocal music can be published without the music, for instance his Lieder (songs) at LiederNet

The following constitutes a complete listing of Schubert’s known works. It is ordered ascendingly according to Deutsch numbers, and attempts to reflect the most current information with regards to Schubert’s catalogue. For reasons of space, this list is divided into two articles. The first article lists Schubert’s compositions from Deutsch entries D 1 – D 500 (all are dated works). The second article lists Schubert’s compositions from Deutsch entries D 501 – D 965B (also dated works), as well as D 966 – D 998 (undated works). The second article also includes the Appendix (Anhang) to the Deutsch catalogue (works listed as “D Anh.”) and a list of works that have yet to receive a Deutsch number (listed as “D deest”). For the second article, see List of compositions by Franz Schubert (D 501–D 998).
******************************************************************************

Amadeus Quartet

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Amadeus Quartet
left to right: Martin Lovett, Norbert Brainin, Siegmund Nissel, Peter Schidlof
Background information
Also known as	Brainin Quartet
Years active	1947–1987
Past members	Norbert Brainin (first violin) Siegmund Nissel (second violin) Peter Schidlof (viola) Martin Lovett (cello)

The Amadeus Quartet was a world famous string quartet founded in 1947 and disbanded in 1987, remarkable for having retained its founding members throughout its long history.

Because of their Jewish origin, the violinists Norbert Brainin (12 March 1923 – 10 April 2005), Siegmund Nissel (3 January 1922 – 21 May 2008) and the viola player Peter Schidlof (9 July 1922 – 16 August 1987) (later violist) were driven out of Vienna after Hitler’s Anschluss of 1938. Brainin and Schidlof met in a British internment camp on the Isle of Man; many Jewish refugees had the misfortune of being confined by the British as “enemy aliens” upon seeking refuge in the UK. Brainin was released after a few months, but Schidlof remained in the camp, where he met Nissel. Finally Schidlof and Nissel were released, and the three of them were able to study with violin teacher Max Rostal, who taught them free of charge. It was through Rostal that they met cellist Martin Lovett, and in 1947 they formed the Brainin Quartet, which was renamed the Amadeus Quartet in 1948.

The group gave its first performance as the Amadeus Quartet at the Wigmore Hall in London on 10 January 1948, underwritten by British composer and conductor Imogen Holst.^[1] On 25 January 1983 the Quartet gave a 35th anniversary concert in the same concert hall with a programme which included Beethoven’s String Quartet in C major, op.59 no. 3 (3rd Rasumovsky Quartet). Touring extensively, the Amadeus performed throughout Europe, Canada, the United States, Japan, and South America. Noted for its smooth, sophisticated style, its seamless ensemble playing, and its sensitive interpretation, the quartet made some 200 recordings, among them the complete quartets of Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. For concerts as well as recordings of string quintets (Mozart, Franz Schubert, Johannes Brahms, Anton Bruckner) and string sextets (Brahms) they regularly invited Cecil Aronowitz as second viola and William Pleeth as second cello. Though they emphasized a standard Classical and Romantic repertory, they also performed works by such 20th-century composers as Béla Bartók and Benjamin Britten who wrote his third quartet expressly for them.

The Amadeus was one of the most celebrated quartets of the 20th century, and its members were awarded numerous honors, including:

• The Order of the British Empire, presented by the Queen.
• Doctorates from the Universities of London, York, and Caracas.
• The highest of all German awards, the Great Cross of Merit.
• The Austrian Cross of Honour for Arts and Sciences.

The quartet disbanded in 1987 upon the death of the violist Peter Schidlof, who was regarded as irreplaceable by the surviving members. Brainin died on 10 April 2005^[2] and Nissel on 21 May 2008.^[1] Only Lovett survived presently.

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Veridian String Quartet: Mendelssohn Op. 44 No. 3

cschilling91

Felix Mendelssohn: String Quartet in E flat Major, Op. 44 No. 3
I. Allegro vivace
II. Scherzo: Assai leggiero vivace (10:30)
III. Adagio non troppo (15:15)
IV. Molto allegro con fuoco (25:12)

Veridian String Quartet

Intensive Quartet Seminar Gala Concert
December 2, 2012
Mixon Hall, Cleveland Institute of Music

Mozart / Divertimento in F major, K. 138, : Great compositions/performances

Mozart / Divertimento in F major, K. 138

  scrymgeour34

Published on Mar 12, 2013

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Divertimento in F major for string quartet, K. 138/125c (1772)

00:00 – Allegro
03:38 – Andante
09:12 – Presto

Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Chamber Ensemble (1984)

“Three early Mozart pieces, K. 137, 137 and 138, are labeled divertimentos on the manuscripts and are so listed in Grove. However, few Mozart scholars accept that tag as an accurate description of the works, and most doubt that the title came from Mozart. For one thing, a divertimento should have two minuets, and these three have none. At first glance they seem to be straightforward string quartets–yet many experts contend that they don’t sound at all like string quartets.

So what are they? Mozart scholar Alfred Einstein fancies them as small symphonies for strings, to which the composer was prepared to add extra parts for winds; they are sometimes known as the ‘Salzburg symphonies.’ Musicologist Hans Keller has given them the curious designation of ‘orchestral quartets.’ Others insist that they are indeed string quartets even if they lack the serious temper of that rarefied form. Yet (to complete the confusion) they are universally referred to as divertimentos–the one thing everyone agrees they are not.

Whatever they’re called, they are fine examples of Mozart’s early essays in chamber music…Mozart composed them in 1772, when he was 16, not long before leaving Salzburg on his third (and, as it turned out, his last) trip to Italy. He was going to Milan to produce the opera ‘Lucio Silla‘ on a commission from Count Firmian, governor-general of that city. He probably expected, from previous experience, to need music to entertain the count’s court while he was at work on the opera. So it seems likely that these three works were composed to meet that need. Mozart may have planned to present them with a small orchestra, as Einstein surmises, but here they are played by the four instruments of a string quartet.

The Divertimento in F, K. 138…is closer than [K. 136 & 137] to being what we now think of as a string quartet. The opening ‘Allegro’ is in the expansive style of the earlier pieces, but then the tone becomes more intimate. In the contemplative ‘Andante’ the first violin spins a melodic thread that ties all four strings into a close-knit, supportive quartet. This intricate ensemble work continues into the ‘Presto’ finale, a rondo that skips purposefully along with robust good humor.” – Harvey B. Loomis

Painting: Festoon of Fruit and Flowers (detail), Jan Davidsz de Heem

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SoundProfessional Boston

This was uploaded for James Buswell. Any questions please contact Mr Buswell directly.
Jordan Hall, March 25, 2014
Live performance.
Videographer: SiMon Yue (SoundProfessional, Boston).
Audio was provided by Mr Buswell purchased from NEC.

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Tchaikovsky String Quartet Op. 11 – II. Andante cantabile (Kontras Quartet): great compositions/performances

Tchaikovsky String Quartet Op. 11 – II. Andante cantabile (Kontras Quartet)

Kontras Quartet

II. Andante cantabile

The Kontras Quartet plays Tchaikovsky’s String Quartet No. 1 Op. 11 quartet on their Chamber Classics II concert in North Carolina on Dec. 11, 2010. For more information, visit http://www.kontrasquartet.com.

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Beethoven – String Quartet Op.59, No.2 “Rasumovsky” – Végh Quartet – 1952: great compositions/performances

Beethoven – String Quartet Op.59, No.2 “Rasumovsky” – Végh Quartet – 1952

  PalamedeDePalamede

Ludwig van Beethoven:
The “Rasumovsky” String Quartets, Opus 59
(Rasumowsky-Quartette)

String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op. 59, No. 2
(Streichquartett Nr. 8 in E-moll, Op. 59, Nr. 2)

I. Allegro
II. Molto Adagio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (07:38)
(Si tratta questo pezzo con molto di sentimento)
III. Allegretto. Thème. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (19:59)
IV. Finale. Presto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (28:23)

Végh Quartet:

Sándor Végh, 1st violin
Sándor Zöldy, 2nd violin
Georges Janzer, viola
Paul Szabo, violoncello

(The 1952 Haydn Society Recordings)

Prazak Quartet & Zemlinsky Quartet : Felix Mendelssohn String octet E-flat major Op. 20: great compositions/performances

Prazak Quartet & Zemlinsky Quartet : Felix Mendelssohn String octet E-flat major Op. 20

FestivalWissembourg

1. Allegro moderato, ma con fuoco
2. Andante
3. Scherzo
4. Presto

Prazak Quartet :

Pavel Hula, violin I
Vlastimil Holek, violin II
Josef Kluson, viola
Michal Kanka, cello

Zemlinsky Quartet :

Frantisek Soucek, violin I
Petr Strizek, violin II
Petr Holman, viola
Vladimir Fortin, cello

Festival Wissembourg – September 4th 2013

Sergei Rachmaninoff -Symphonic Dances, Op. 45: great compositions/performances

Sergei Rachmaninoff –Symphonic Dances, Op. 45

  Wolfgang Amadé Mozart

V. Polyansky – Russian State SO

Sergei Rachmaninoff -Symphonic Dances, Op. 45
I. Non allegro
II. Andante con moto (Tempo di valse)
III. Lento assai – Allegro vivace – Lento assai – Come prima – Allegro vivace

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Mozart Quartet No 16 K 428 Hagen Quartet: great compositions/performances

Mozart Quartet No 16 K 428 Hagen Quartet

    La Casa di Davide

The “Haydn” Quartets by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are a set of six string quartets published in 1785 in Vienna, dedicated to the composer Joseph Haydn.
Mozart’s published dedication page (1 Sept. 1785):
To my dear friend Haydn,
A father who had resolved to send his children out into the great world took it to be his duty to confide them to the protection and guidance of a very celebrated Man, especially when the latter by good fortune was at the same time his best Friend. Here they are then, O great Man and dearest Friend, these six children of mine. They are, it is true, the fruit of a long and laborious endeavor, yet the hope inspired in me by several Friends that it may be at least partly compensated encourages me, and I flatter myself that this offspring will serve to afford me solace one day. You, yourself, dearest friend, told me of your satisfaction with them during your last Visit to this Capital. It is this indulgence above all which urges me to commend them to you and encourages me to hope that they will not seem to you altogether unworthy of your favour. May it therefore please you to receive them kindly and to be their Father, Guide and Friend! From this moment I resign to you all my rights in them, begging you however to look indulgently upon the defects which the partiality of a Father’s eye may have concealed from me, and in spite of them to continue in your generous Friendship for him who so greatly values it, in expectation of which I am, with all of my Heart, my dearest Friend, your most Sincere Friend,
W.A. Mozart

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Franz Schubert: String Quartet #10 in Eb Opp125/1 D 87 (make music part of your life series)

[youtube.com/watch?v=jTcu0Rnb3V0]

Franz Schubert: String Quartet #10 in Eb Opp125/1 D 87

 

• Buy “Streichquartett Nr.10 in Es-Dur, 3.Satz – Adagio” on
  
  

  Google Play, iTunes , AmazonMP3

 

 

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make music part of your life series: Franz Schubert： Quartettsatz in C-moll, D. 703 and Antonín Dvořák：String Quartet No.14, Op.105

[youtube.com/watch?v=pXOp2wfBb4A]

Franz Schubert： Quartettsatz in C-moll, D. 703

Franz Schubert： Quartettsatz in C-moll, D. 703
The Quartettsatz in C-moll (English: Quartet Movement in C minor), D. 703 was composed by Franz Schubert in December 1820. It is the first movement, of a Twelfth String Quartet which Schubert never completed. In addition to the opening movement, Schubert also composed the first forty bars of a second movement marked Andante. The unfinished quartet is regarded as one of the first products of Schubert’s mature phase of composition.^[1][2][3]

Structure

The composition consists of a single sonata form movement marked Allego assai and typical performances last around 10 minutes.

Antonín Dvořák：String Quartet No.14, Op.105
I. Adagio ma non troppo—Allegro appassionato
II. Molto vivace
III. Lento e molto cantabile
IV. Finale. Allegro non tanto

Shanghai Quartet

Weigang Li, violin
Yi-Wen Jiang, violin
Honggang Li, viola
Nicholas Tzavaras, cello

Alexander Kasser Theater
Montclair State University
1 Normal Avenue, Montclair, NJ 07043
3:00pm, April 12， 2013

Filmed and edited by Rodney Leinberger

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make music part of your life series: Felix Bartholdy Mendelssohn – 4 pieces for String Quartet Op. 81 – III. Capriccio

[youtube.com/watch?v=p0JwIUhGtVM]

Felix Bartholdy Mendelssohn – 4 pieces for String Quartet Op. 81 – III. Capriccio  (SHARON QUARTET)

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make music part of your life series: Lullaby for String Quartet, George Gershwin, Members of the LA Philharmonic, Feb 10, 2013

[youtube.com/watch?v=F3Tq07BpKgo]

Lullaby for String Quartet, George Gershwin, Members of the LA Philharmonic, Feb 10, 2013

Lullaby for String Quartet, George Gershwin, Members of the LA Philharmonic: Mischa Lefkowitz, Violin, Minyoung Chang, Violin, Michael Larco, Viola, Jason Lippmann, Cello, Baxter Concert Series, Whittier, California, February 10, 2013

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make music part of your life series: Janacek – Idyll for Strings

[youtube.com/watch?v=1vKyJJEhl_4]

Janacek – Idyll for Strings

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historic musical moments: Beethoven – String Quartet No.6 in B flat major, Op.18 – Végh Quartet – 1952

[youtube.com/watch?v=2h7jnUhmlhs]

Beethoven – String Quartet No.6 in B flat major, Op.18 – Végh Quartet – 1952

Ludwig van Beethoven: The Early String Quartets, Opus 18
String Quartet No. 6 in B flat major, Op. 18, No. 6
(Streichquartett Nr. 6 in B-dur, Op. 18, Nr. 6)

I. Allegro con brio
II. Adagio ma non troppo
III. Scherzo. Allegro
IV. La Malinconia. Adagio – Allegretto quasi Allegro

Végh Quartet
Sándor Végh, 1st violin
Sándor Zöldy, 2nd violin
Georges Janzer, viola
Paul Szabo, violoncello

The 1952 Haydn Society Recordings

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“Serenade” from Make Music Part of Your Life: String Quartert Op.3 No.5 by Haydn. Andante Cantabile in C Major

[youtube.com/watch?v=k4g0FqfKxZY]

“Serenade” from String Quartert Op.3 No.5 by Haydn. Andante Cantabile in C Major

David Bousso Conducts the Union City Philharmonic Strings

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GREAT COMPOSITIONS/PERFORMANCES: Beethoven – String Quartet No.6 in B flat major, Op.18 – Végh Quartet – 1952

[youtube.com/watch?v=2h7jnUhmlhs]

Beethoven – String Quartet No.6 in B flat major, Op.18:
Végh Quartet – 1952

Ludwig van Beethoven: The Early String Quartets, Opus 18
String Quartet No. 6 in B flat major, Op. 18, No. 6
(Streichquartett Nr. 6 in B-dur, Op. 18, Nr. 6)

I. Allegro con brio
II. Adagio ma non troppo
III. Scherzo. Allegro
IV. La Malinconia. Adagio – Allegretto quasi Allegro

Végh Quartet
Sándor Végh, 1st violin
Sándor Zöldy, 2nd violin
Georges Janzer, viola
Paul Szabo, violoncello

(The 1952 Haydn Society Recordings)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

	I. Allegro con brio (4:41)   Menu       0:00     II. Adagio ma non troppo (7:02)   Menu       0:00     III. Scherzo: Allegro (4:13)   Menu       0:00     IV. La Malinconia: Adagio – Allegretto quasi Allegro (8:13)   Menu       0:00   All files courtesy of Musopen
Problems playing these files? See media help.

Ludwig van Beethoven‘s String Quartet No. 6 in B♭ major was published in 1801 as opus 18, no. 6, and was written between 1798 and 1800.

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GREAT COMPOSITIONS/PERFORMANCES: Beethoven – String Quartet No.2 in G major, Op.18 – Végh Quartet – 1952

[youtube.com/watch?v=-mqXXWJ5RpA]

Beethoven – String Quartet No.2 in G major, Op.18 – Végh Quartet – 1952

Ludwig van Beethoven: The Early String Quartets, Opus 18
String Quartet No. 2 in G major, Op. 18, No. 2
(Streichquartett Nr. 2 in G-dur, Op. 18, Nr. 2)

I. Allegro
II. Adagio cantabile — Allegro — Tempo I
III. Scherzo. Allegro
IV. Allegro molto, quasi presto

Végh Quartet
Sándor Végh, 1st violin
Sándor Zöldy, 2nd violin
Georges Janzer, viola
Paul Szabo, violoncello

The 1952 Haydn Society Recordings

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

The String Quartet No. 2 in G major, op. 18, No. 2, was written by Ludwig van Beethoven between 1798 and 1800 and published in 1801.

Of the Op. 18 string quartets, this one is the most grounded in 18th-century musical tradition.^[1] According to Steinberg, “In German-speaking countries, the graceful curve of the first violin’s opening phrase has earned the work the nickname of Komplimentier-Quartett, which might be translated as ‘quartet of bows and curtseys’.”^[2]

The nickname may have originated from one of Haydn’s last string quartets written about the same time (Op. 77, No. 1; 1799), which was also known as the Komplimentier-Quartett. Haydn was Beethoven’s teacher at the time, and there are similarities in style between the two quartets. They are also both in the key of G major.^[3]

After he finished the quartet, Beethoven was not satisfied with the second movement and wrote a replacement. Sketches of the original slow movement survive and a complete version has been reconstructed by musicologist Barry Cooper.^[4] It was performed publicly, possibly for the first time, by the Quatuor Danel in the Cosmo Rodewald Concert Hall at the Martin Harris Centre, University of Manchester, on 30 September 2011.

 

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Make Music Part of Your Life Series: Franz Schubert – String Quartet, in A minor, D 804 “Rosamunde”

Brandis Quartet, Thomas Brandis, violin. Peter Brem, violin. Wilfried Strehle, viola. Wolfgang Boettcher, cello. 
Franz Schubert – String Quartet, in A minor, D 804 “Rosamunde“
I. Allegro ma non troppo
II. Andante
III. Menuetto, allegro
IV. Allegro moderato

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Make Music Part of Your Life Series: Mozart / Divertimento in B-flat major, K. 137

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Divertimento in B-flat major for string quartet, K. 137/125b (1772)
00:00 – Andante
07:52 – Allegro di molto
11:17 – Allegro assai
(Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Chamber Ensemble (1986))

“Three early Mozart pieces, K. 137, 137 and 138, are labeled divertimentos on the manuscripts and are so listed in Grove. However, few Mozart scholars accept that tag as an accurate description of the works, and most doubt that the title came from Mozart. For one thing, a divertimento should have two minuets, and these three have none. At first glance they seem to be straightforward string quartets–yet many experts contend that they don’t sound at all like string quartets. 

So what are they? Mozart scholar Alfred Einstein fancies them as small symphonies for strings, to which the composer was prepared to add extra parts for winds; they are sometimes known as the ‘Salzburg symphonies.’ Musicologist Hans Keller has given them the curious designation of ‘orchestral quartets.’ Others insist that they are indeed string quartets even if they lack the serious temper of that rarefied form. Yet (to complete the confusion) they are universally referred to as divertimentos–the one thing everyone agrees they are not.

Whatever they’re called, they are fine examples of Mozart’s early essays in chamber music…Mozart composed them in 1772, when he was 16, not long before leaving Salzburg on his third (and, as it turned out, his last) trip to Italy. He was going to Milan to produce the opera ‘Lucio Silla‘ on a commission from Count Firmian, governor-general of that city. He probably expected, from previous experience, to need music to entertain the count’s court while he was at work on the opera. So it seems likely that these three works were composed to meet that need. Mozart may have planned to present them with a small orchestra, as Einstein surmises, but here they are played by the four instruments of a string quartet.

The Divertimento in B flat, K. 137…differs from [K. 136 & K. 138] by starting with a slow movement. This affecting ‘Andante’ is led by the first violin and is punctuated by dramatic responses from the accompanying strings. A spirited ‘Allegro di molto’ movement follows, leading to a delicate finale marked ‘Allegro assai’. This section, while not actually a minuet, has a courtly air that suggests a roomful of dancers bowing and curtsying under brilliant chandeliers.” – Harvey B. Loomis

Painting: Still Life (Morning Glories, Toad, & Insects), Otto Marseus van Schrieck

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• Ein Musikalischer Spass (thing)
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Great Composers/Compositions: GEORGE WALKER: “Lyric for Strings” (Original Version)

One of Walker’s best-known early works was “Lyric” for String Orchestra. It was originally the 2nd movement, ‘Molto Adagio,’ of his String Quartet No. 1 (1946), and is performed here in that original version.
The Son Sonora String Quartet: Ashley Horne and Airi Yoshioka, violins;
Liu-Wien Ting, viola; Leo Grinhauz, cello
from Albany TROY1082 (2009)
http://www.albanyrecords.com

Chamber works from this Pulitzer Prize winning composer.
Continuing Albany Records’ series of music by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer George Walker, this recording focuses on his chamber music. The music ranges from his first string quartet composed in 1946 to the piano sonata composed in 1985. Walker is the recipient of six honorary doctoral degrees and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame in 2000.
Contents:
George Walker, composer
String Quartet No. 1
Son Sonora String Quartet
George Walker, composer
String Quartet No. 2
Son Sonora String Quartet
George Walker, composer
Piano Sonata No. 4
Frederick Moyer, piano
George Walker, composer
Songs
James Martin, baritone, George Walker, piano 
Review:
“The piano sonata is a stunning, spacious work. Walker is at his finest in the songs. Each one is a gem. …James Martin’s warm baritone, concise diction, and wide variety of colors are a perfect match for these songs.” (American Record Guide)
“From this CD one would conclude that [George Walker] is versatile, technically adept, and extremely skillful at changing styles…” (Fanfare)

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Antonín Dvořák – Bagatelles, Op. 47

Alberni String Quartet.
Howard Davis, violin.
Peter Pople, violin.
Roger Best, violin/viola.
David Smith, cello.
Virginia Black, harmonium

Antonín Dvořák – Bagatelles, Op. 47
1. Allegretto scherzando 2’59
2. Tempo di menuetto, grazioso 3’16
3. Allegretto scherzando 2’56
4. Canon, andante con moto 3’27
5. Poco allegro 4’21

 

Felix Mendelssohn – Six Anthems for eight voices a capella opus 79 – New Year

Maulbronn Chamber Choir
The night shines as the day
Conductor: Jürgen Budday

A concert recording from the church of the
UNESCO World Heritage Site Maulbronn Monastery.
Released & created by Andreas Otto Grimminger & Josef-Stefan Kindler
in cooperation with Jürgen Budday.
Juli 2010.

F. Mendelssohn: Sechs Sprüche zum Kirchenjahr.
In durchweg opulenten 8stimmigen Sätzen durchmisst Mendelssohn die Feste des Kirchenjahres vom Advent bis zu Himmelfahrt. Dabei reicht die klangliche Palette je nach Charakter des jeweiligen Festes vom dumpfen Adagio bis hin zum strahlenden, jubelnden Allegro. Inhaltlich repräsentiert insbesondere der Text der Passionszeit das Thema des Konzertes: Die “Übeltaten”, das Elend und die Sünde stehen für die negativen Seiten des Lebens, die durch Christus in der Herrlichkeit Gottes aufgehoben werden.

 

BeethoveBeethoven: String Quartet No. 5 in A Major, Op. 18, No. 5 – Julliard School (Live)

Beethoven String Quartet No. 5 in A Major, Op. 18, No. 5 performed by Julliard School (Live). Filmed live in The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space in New York for WQXR‘s Beethoven String Quartet Marathon on November 18, 2012.
Siwoo Kim and Francisco Fullana, violins
Danny Kim, viola

 

Mikhail Pletnev & Soloists Ensemble play Glinka: Grand Sextet in E flat major for piano, string quartet and double bass

Mikhail Pletnev & Soloists Ensemble play Glinka Grand Sextet in E flat major for piano, string quartet and double bass.  Recording in 1993 by Olympia.
Mikhail Pletnev, piano
Alexei Bruni, violin
Mikhail Moshkunov, violin
Andrei Kevorkov, viola
Erik Pozdeev, cello
Nikolai Gorbunov, double bass
I. Allegro
II. Andante – (attacca). 
III. Finale. Allegro con spirito

Schubert String Quartet No 14 D minor Death and the Maiden Alban Berg Quartet

Schubert String Quartet No 14 D minor Death and the Maiden

I. Allegro II. Andante con moto –11:37  III. Presto – 22:18 IV. Prestissimo 25:50
Composition Year	1826
Genre Categories	Quartets; For 2 violins, viola, cello

The String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, known as Death and the Maiden, by Franz Schubert, is one of the pillars of the chamber music repertoire. Composed in 1824, after the composer suffered through a serious illness and realized that he was dying, it is Schubert’s testament to death. The quartet is named for the theme of the second movement, which Schubert took from a song he wrote in 1817 of the same title; but the theme of death is palpable in all four movements of the quartet.

The quartet was first played in 1826 in a private home, and was not published until 1831, three years after Schubert’s death. Yet, passed over in his lifetime, the quartet has become a staple of the quartet repertoire. It is D. 810 in Otto Erich Deutsch‘s thematic catalog of Schubert’s works.

Original manuscript of Death and the Maiden quartet, from The Mary Flagler Cary Music Collection, Morgan Library, NY

Original manuscript of Lied Death and the Maiden

1823 and 1824 were hard years for Schubert. For much of 1823 he was sick, some scholars believe with an outburst of tertiary stage syphilis, and in May had to be hospitalized.^[1] He was broke: he had entered into a disastrous deal with Diabelli to publish a batch of works, and received almost no payment; and his latest attempt at opera, Fierabras, was a flop. In a letter to a friend, he wrote,

“Think of a man whose health can never be restored, and who from sheer despair makes matters worse instead of better. Think, I say, of a man whose brightest hopes have come to nothing, to whom love and friendship are but torture, and whose enthusiasm for the beautiful is fast vanishing; and ask yourself if such a man is not truly unhappy.”^[2]

English: Oil painting of Franz Schubert, after an 1825 watercolor (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Franz Schubert in 1825 (painting by Wilhelm August Rieder)

Yet, despite his bad health, poverty and depression, Schubert continued to turn out the tuneful, light and gemütlichmusic that made him the toast of Viennese society: the song cycle Die schöne Müllerin, the octet for string quartet, contrabass, clarinet, horn and bassoon, more than 20 songs, and numerous light pieces for piano.^[3

Alban Berg Quartet

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

 

Alban Berg Quartett
Origin	Vienna, Austria
Genres	Classical
Occupations	Chamber ensemble
Years active	1971–2008
Labels	Teldec, EMI
Members	Günter Pichler (violin) Gerhard Schulz (violin) Isabel Charisius (viola) Valentin Erben (violoncello)
Past members	Klaus Maetzl (2nd violin, 1971-1978) Hatto Beyerle (viola, 1971-1981) Thomas Kakuska (viola, 1981-2005)

The Alban Berg Quartett was a string quartet founded in Vienna, Austria in 1970, named after the famous composer Alban Berg.

Beethoven : String Quartet n°8 in F Major, op. 59-2 “Razumovsky”, Barylli Quartet

Recording of the Barylli Quartet playing Beethoven’s String Quartet n°8 in E Minor, op. 59-2 “Razumovsky“.

I. Allegro
II. Molto Adagio (11:01)
III. Allegretto (25:17)
IV. Presto (34:58)

Mozaartsaal Konzerthaus – 1956

 

Beethoven String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat Major, Op. 130 (Grosse Fuge) – American String Quartet

Beethoven String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat Major, Op. 130 (Grosse Fuge) performed by the American String Quartet (live). Filmed live in The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space in New York for WQXR‘s Beethoven String Quartet Marathon on November 18, 2012.

 

Drolc Quartet – Alexander Borodin, String Quartet No. 2

Eduard Drolc and Juergen Pnarmann, violin;
Stefano Passaggio, viola;
Georg Donderer, cello.  

The String Quartet No. 2, written in 1881, by Alexander Borodin is a work in four movements:
1. Allegro moderato in D major and 2/2 time, with 304 bars;
2. Scherzo. Allegro in F major and 3/4 time, with 299 bars;
3. Notturno (Nocturne): Andante in A major and 3/4 time, with 180 bars;
4. Finale: Andante — Vivace in D major and 2/4 time, with 671 bars.

 

Friday Night at the Concert: Dvorak: String Quartet No. 13 in G major (Prague String Quartet)

1. Allegro moderato (0:07)
2. Adagio ma non troppo (9:26)
3. Molto vivace (20:25)
4. Finale (26:59)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

 

Antonín Dvořák composed his String Quartet No. 13 in G major, Op. 106, (B. 192), between November and December 9, 1895. 1895 was an eventful year for him: he returned to Europe from America and his sister-in-law and first love both died. Upon finishing the String Quartet No. 13 in G major, he took back up his fourteenth in A-flat major, which he had begun before this quartet and finished it on December 30 of that year. The fourteenth quartet was published with the opus number 105.

The string quartet contains four movements and lasts around 35 minutes. The movements are as follows:

• Allegro moderato in G major and 2/4 time
• Adagio ma non troppo in E-flat major and 3/8 time
• Molto vivace in B minor and 3/4 time, more like a rondo with episodes in A flat major and D major for trios than a typical scherzo, as is more often found in this place in a string quartet in the Romantic music era.
• Finale. Andante sostenuto – Allegro con fuoco The brief Andante sostenuto is in 4/4 “common” time, introduces a finale in 2/4 time, and interrupts it toward the end of the work. The finale is in the work’s main key of G major.

Jerusalem Quartet – W.A. Mozart String Quartet no.4 in C major KV 157 II. Andante

Jerusalem Quartet:
Alexander Pavlovsky, 1st violin
Sergei Bresler, 2nd violin
Amichai Grosz, viola
Kyril Zlotnikov, violoncello

The third “Milanese” Quartet (1772/3)

Mozart String Quartet no.4 in C major KV 157, II. Andante

Smetana – From My Life – string quartet

string quartet by B. Smetana – From My Life
15th December 2009
Beirut, Lebanon
Nabih Bulos – violin
Ondin Brezeanu – violin
Magdalena Sokola – cello
Catalina Rupa – viola

Today’s Birthday: Joseph Haydn (1732)

Joseph Haydn (1732) The principal shaper of the Classical style, Haydn was an Austrian composer who exerted major influence on his contemporaries, including Mozart, and future composers. The first great symphonist, he composed 106 symphonies and virtually invented the string quartet. By his later years, he was recognized internationally as the greatest living composer. He composed important works in almost every genre. As a teacher, Haydn had a difficult relationship with what famous student? More… Discuss

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