This quite exceptional four disc set string quartet works
from the controversial Vienna-born contemporaries: Schoenberg,
Berg
and Webern. The recordings have been issued previously on LP
on the famous yellow label of Deutsche Grammophon and make a
most welcome return to the catalogue; especially at this super-budget
price.
The distinguished American LaSalle Quartet was founded in Cincinnati,
Ohio by its first violin Walter Levin and was active between
1946 and 1988. The quartet generally played on a set of Amati
instruments that had been donated to them. Although performing
the works of the standard Classical and Romantic literature the
LaSalle became renowned for their advocacy of the music of the
principal protagonists of the Second Viennese School, Schoenberg,
Berg and Webern.
Schoenberg String Quartet in D major (1897)
Schoenberg’s unpublished
String Quartet in D major (1897)
was his first to be composed and proved to be a valid example
of his compositional prowess. Received with audience and critical
approval the much revised four movement score was premiered in
December 1898 at the Bösendorfer-Saal in Vienna by the Fitzner
Quartet. This splendid late-Romantic music is predominantly Brahmsian
in inspiration with distinct influences of Dvořák
yet it remains entirely original and genuinely Viennese. Without
any foreknowledge I wonder how many people would be able to guess
the identity of the composer.
The distinct influences of Dvořák are immediately
noticeable in the opening theme of the first movement
Allegro
molto with fresh and breezy rhythms with a compelling sense
of the outdoors. Evidently Dvořák’s works were
often programmed in Vienna at that time so echoes of his style
are not too surprising. By contrast the
Intermezzo is
rather subdued and has a propensity for bleakness offset by an
understated attractiveness. The impact of Brahms is best revealed
by the rich textures of the
Andante con moto - a diverse
set of variations played with considerable emphasis on wide dynamics.
Warm and inviting the jaunty folk-like Moravian/Bohemian melodies
in the manner of Dvořák suffuse the final movement
Allegro.
Schoenberg String Quartet No. 1 in D minor,
Op. 7 (1904/5)
Eight years later Schoenberg completed his
String Quartet
No. 1 a score written in 1904/5 mainly whilst holidaying
at the resort of Gmunden on Lake Traun. The longest of his string
quartets it is divided into four distinct parts and played in
one continuous span. A tonal work the composer treats the harmonies
and melodies in a manner that was highly unusual for its time.
To much controversy the
Quartet was first performed by
the Rosé Quartet in February 1907 at the Bösendorfer-Saal,
Vienna. Schoenberg’s music, considered too complex and
radical for many, provoked considerable audience dissatisfaction.
It seems that Gustav Mahler who attended the premiere confronted
one of the mocking detractors. The opening movement
Nicht
zu rasch is strident and forthright. Classy and intense the
Kräftig contains
episodes of explosive energy interspersed with music that could
easily depict flat and barren landscapes. Measured and anxiety-laden
the
Mäßig is never allowed any restfulness.
Marked
Mäßig - Heiter the final movement
Rondo crackles
with an energetic almost frenetic activity. From 4:07 the mood
quickly switches to a
Coda of dreamy beauty.
Schoenberg String Quartet No. 2 in F sharp minor,
Op. 10 (1907/8)
Three years separate the completion of the op. 7
String Quartet from
the
String Quartet No. 2, Op. 10. This notorious
String
Quartet No. 2 in F sharp minor was composed in 1907/8
much of it written at Gmunden on the Traunsee. Work on the score
was undertaken during a period of significant emotional difficulty
in Schoenberg’s life, in particular, his marital crisis
and his mother leaving for the USA. The score was introduced
in December 1908 at the Bösendorfer-Saal, Vienna by the
Rosé Quartet together with soprano Marie Gutheil-Schoder.
Schoenberg subjected his new score to considerable revision also
making string orchestra arrangements.
Designed in four separate movements using a traditional Classical
design the first three movements are tonal. It is in the ground-breaking
fourth movement that Schoenberg leaves consonance behind and
controversially experiments with atonality. Also remarkable are
the third and fourth movements where the strings are accompanied
by a solo soprano singing texts by Stefan George. Here Schoenberg
weaves the texts of the two poems
Litany and
Rapture from
George’s collection of poems titled
Der siebente Ring into
the final two movements of the score. At the 1908 Vienna premiere
the first movement passed without any undue response, however,
during the second movement the audience began to cause a considerable
disturbance that according to the composer served, “…
as
a natural reaction of a conservatively educated audience to a
new kind of music.”
Swirling and wandering, the opening movement
Mäßig has
a yearning quality followed by a mocking
Scherzo marked
Sehr
rasch of schizophrenic frenzy. Titled
Litany the thought-provoking
penultimate movement
Langsam is calm and gentle, bewitchingly
contrasted with dark thunderclaps of intense passion. The concluding
movement
Sehr langsam titled
Rapture is ethereal
and mysterious, said to depict the departure from earth to another
planet. It feels like a floating mist expanding in density and
weight. In the
Coda from 8:44 a sense of gentle weariness
pervades the atmosphere. In the movements
Litany and
Rapture the
expressive tones of soprano soloist Margaret Price both beguile
and delight.
Schoenberg String Quartet No. 3, Op.
30 (1927)
A gap of nineteen years separates the
String Quartet No. 3,
Op. 30 from Schoenberg’s earlier
String Quartet,
Op.
10. The four movement Third Quartet is his first to use the twelve-tone
technique (dodecaphonic) yet its reception was not as hostile
as that experienced by his previous two quartets. The atonal
score was commissioned by the renowned American music patron
Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge and incredibly it was completed in
a matter of only weeks. The Vienna premiere was given in the
patron’s presence by the Kolisch Quartet in September 1927.
In the opening movement
Moderato there is an often disconcerting
blend of varied mood-painting. The bleak and austere
Adagio is
a set of variations. I found the restless
Largo a wondering
and searching movement contrasting with the bold and extrovert
pleadings of the closing
Allegro.
Schoenberg String Quartet No. 4, Op.
37 (1936)
The
String Quartet No. 4 was composed in 1936 during a
period of transition in Schoenberg’s life. It only took
him six weeks to complete. Written in California the work came
some three years after his emigration to the USA and nine years
after his previous quartet. Employing a twelve-tone technique
the score is designed in the composer’s usual classical
four movement plan. Another commission by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge
it was premiered in January 1937 at the University of California,
Los Angeles, USA by the Kolisch Quartet. A less radical work
than the public were expecting it was received with interest
rather than hostility. Schoenberg was delighted with the result
and
thought it more agreeable than his previous score in the genre.
Dense and uneasy the complex opening movement an
Allegro molto,
Energico speaks
with soul-searching angst. The urgency of the
Scherzo-like
Comodo is
punctuated with bursts of rhythmic drive. Streaked with seriousness
and tense uncertainty the
Largo has an other-worldly character.
With music of considerable expressive power the
Rondo,
Allegro contains
often startling and shifting, wide leaping rhythms.
Webern 5 Movements for String Quartet,
Op.5 (1909)
By the time Anton Webern had completed his
5 Movements for
String Quartet in 1909 composition lessons with Arnold Schoenberg
had ceased the previous year. The score, often referred to as
a ten minute masterpiece, could easily be seen as a backlash
against late-Romantic excess, such as Mahler’s
Symphony
No. 9;
a contemporaneous work that lasts around 80-85
minutes to perform.
The
String Quartet, Op.5 opens
with the swiftly shifting and agitated sound-world of the
Heftig
bewegt way to the gentle and desolate tones of the
Sehr
langsam which is permeated with dark foreboding. The boisterousness
of the terse rhythmic central movement
Sehr lebhaft serves
as a prelude to the mysterious and bleak landscape of the
Sehr
langsam. The austerity of the final movement
In zarter
Bewegung gradually dies away to a perplexing state of nothingness.
Webern String Quartet (1905)
Webern’s
String Quartet was written in 1905 while
he was still a composition student at the University of Vienna
and studying privately with Arnold Schoenberg. Webern wrote on
the score that his inspiration was having viewed in 1902 at Munich
the
Alpen Triptych depicting scenes titled
Life-Nature-Death by
painter Giovanni Segantini. It comprises a number of continuous
sections and divisions compressed into a single movement. It
is a remarkable and inventive fusion of diverse tempi, moods
and tonalities.
Webern 6 Bagatelles for String Quartet,
Op.9 (1911-13)
The
6 Bagatelles for String Quartet, Op.9
had to
wait over a decade before their premiere in July 1924 at Donaueschingen,
Germany. The embodiment of brevity the
6 Bagatelles last
for only 57 bars, that is just under four minutes in performance
here. They are atonal pieces written using the twelve-tone serial
method with all six pieces employing
ostinato patterns.
Overall the sparse sound of these miniatures evokes a cold barrenness
as if stripped down to the bare bones.
Webern String Quartet, Op.28 (1937-8)
Commissioned by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, Webern composed the
three movement
String Quartet, Op.28 at a time of great
anxiety in his life. By 1938 Nazi Germany had annexed Austria.
Webern’s financial plight had become desperate and his
future uncertain. All its movements are atonal using a series
based the twelve-tone technique. The design of the first movement
marked
Mäßig is a rather cloaked theme and
variations that demonstrates an impressive technique. As the
music advances it has the quality of a poured fluid. Formed as
a mini
Scherzo and
Trio the central movement
Gemächlich is
rhythmic, clinical and almost sterile. Divergent in mood with
wide-ranging dynamics the final movement
Sehr fließend uses
a scheme that is a combination of
Scherzo and
Fugue.
Berg Lyric Suite for String Quartet (1925/6)
Alban Berg’s
Lyric Suite was premiered in Vienna
the following year by the Kolisch Quartet. Presented in an unconventional
six movement scheme it
is the second of Berg’s scores
for string quartet. It seems that the score bore a secret dedication
in recognition of his love for Hanna Fuchs-Robettin and also
contains a clandestine programme. Often heard is an arrangement
of the
Lyric Suite for chamber orchestra prepared by Berg
from three movements of the suite. It is notable how Berg uses
twelve-tone technique in some of the movements. The odd-numbered
movements become progressively faster and more troublesome, whilst
the even-numbered ones become increasingly slower and more intense.
The
Allegretto gioviale is dramatic and powerful followed
by a bleak and searching
Andante amoroso movement bordering
on the world-weary. One notices the extensive use of harmonics
in the darting and swirling
Scherzo marked
Allegro
misterioso - Trio estatico and at the core of the work the
Adagio
appassionato reveals an ardently yearning and burning passion.
A second
Scherzo marked
Presto delirando - Tenebroso is
frenetically rhythmic, developing with a dynamically potent energy.
The final movement a
Largo desolato is a bleak and brooding
mixture of disparate feelings and emotions. Towards the conclusion
one notices the spinning
ostinato pattern for the instruments
and in the fading silence how each player departs in turn.
Berg String Quartet, Op.3 (1909/11)
Written in 1909/11 as a graduation exercise Berg’s
String
Quartet, Op.3 was the last of his scores composed under Schoenberg’s
tutelage, yet, it remains a score that reveals Berg’s unique
identity. His teacher was surprised by the richness and freedom
of its musical language and the assurance of its originality.
Berg experiments with atonality and anticipates the use serial
technique. The
String Quartet perhaps unfairly takes a
back seat to the greater recognition of the later
Lyric Suite.
Designed in two movements the opening
Langsam is achingly
passionate with bleak passages contrasted with flourishes of
great vigour. The second movement
Mäßige Viertel is
forthright and vigorous, angular and strident. A series of harmonics
punctuate the writing as do several more approachable passages
that surprise and delight.
It is hard to fault the LaSalle Quartet in these scores. Their
superb playing demonstrates an impeccable ensemble, superbly
blended timbre and pure intonation. Throughout I felt extremely
comfortable with their astute choice of tempi and well judged
dynamics. This set is indeed a wonderful achievement. Recorded
in Munich at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities
the analogue recordings have been digitally remastered to a consistently
high standard.
Just the mention of the names of the pillars of the Second Viennese
School, Schoenberg, Webern and Berg is enough to cause a shudder
down the spine of many music-lovers. From my experience these
understandable reactions frequently rob people of hearing some
beautiful music and deprive them of any broadening of their range
of interest. I always think that in a chamber music programme
a score of the Second Viennese School flanked by two works of
the standard repertoire serves to refresh the palate. If anyone
can convince people of the worth of the music of Schoenberg,
Webern and Berg then it is the LaSalle.
Michael Cookson
And a further perspective from Rob Barnett ...
Even Universal have succumbed to the winning ways of Brilliant
Classics. Once again today's collectors are the beneficiaries
who are now able to gain access at rock-bottom prices to recordings
of connoisseur quality from the heyday of the LP.
This set takes us from the consonant Dvořákian delights
of Schoenberg's unnumbered D major to the dreamy epilogue of
the First Quartet. The tougher Second Quartet has its notorious
finale including a soprano setting of words by Stefan George
- a poet also idolised by Cyril Scott. His last Austrian quartet
(No. 3) is succeeded by the toughest and final work of the sequence:
the Fourth, written in America in 1936.
There is a singing quality in Schoenberg’s writing but
it is Berg who proclaims himself through his op.3 and the
Lyric
Suite as the arch-apostle of the lyric art as expressed through
dodecaphony. His
Lyric Suite quotes from
Tristan und
Isolde and from the Third Movement of the
Lyric Symphony by
Schoenberg's only teacher, Alexander von Zemlinsky. If Berg is
the School's high-priest of the lyric impulse then Webern is
the ascetic, whose spare and super-concentrated scores still
make for a challenging listen.
My rather mean-spirited nature must be the reason for regretting
the failure to include here the Lasalle's DG recordings of the
four Zemlinsky quartets. Perhaps they are in the queue for a
box of their own - hope springs ... After all, Brilliant do have
the Zemlinsky songs by Kim Kimbrough and Cord Garben on another
of their readily accessible sets.
This Lasalle collection is a most inexpensive and stylish way
of becoming
au fait with the chamber music of the three
kings of the Second Viennese School. All appreciation requires
is a little persistence and a steady planned immersion.
Rob Barnett