String Quartet Cycles

[Joe]

Rochberg. And I used to own them all, or all that were recorded. What a feeling of enlightment/liberation when I realized they needed to be dumped.

Larry -- I'd be interested to know more about your experience with the Rochberg quartets. While I like the few of his early chamber works that I've encountered ("Serenata d'estate"), I'm sitting on the fence with respect to much of his other work.

Not essential, and not easy to track down, but I have a mid-50s Columbia recording that pairs Lukas Foss' String Quartet No.1 with William Bergsma's String Quartet No. 3. Both interesting examples of how American composers at mid-century were trying to work around the overwhelming influence exerted by serialism. Glorious mono to boot.

[Spontooneous]

No more love for the Hindemith quartets, people?

OK, maybe not. But Op. 22 is a good 'ern.

[Larry Kart]

Rochberg. And I used to own them all, or all that were recorded. What a feeling of enlightment/liberation when I realized they needed to be dumped.

Larry -- I'd be interested to know more about your experience with the Rochberg quartets. While I like the few of his early chamber works that I've encountered ("Serenata d'estate"), I'm sitting on the fence with respect to much of his other work.

Not essential, and not easy to track down, but I have a mid-50s Columbia recording that pairs Lukas Foss' String Quartet No.1 with William Bergsma's String Quartet No. 3. Both interesting examples of how American composers at mid-century were trying to work around the overwhelming influence exerted by serialism. Glorious mono to boot.

Probably I should hold off on answering for a while, because my somewhat inchoate sense of dissatisfaction with Rochberg's music of any period (not just when he turned neo-Romantic, or whatever you want to call it) was perfectly crystallized by a review by composer-critic Arthur Berger of a prize-winning Rochberg work of the late '40s or early '50s, which is collected in a Berger book, "Reflections of a Composer," but most of my books are inaccessible to me right now. (Berger BTW is a fine composer.) It had something to do with Rochberg's music making all these sweepingly dramatic, flexed-muscle gestures, but there was so little musical substance, or even real moment-to-moment musical activity, underneath all the leaping and grunting. Whatever, Berger really nailed it, and I think it was in a review that he had to write back at the paper (the New York Herald Tribune) right after the concert.

[Larry Kart]

It turns out that the Berger book is accessible. Here is the passage, from an April 24, 1953 review of a New York Philharmonic concert:

"Mr. Rochberg, who is in his early 30s, was the 1952 winner of the Gershwin Memorial Contest, which is open to young American composers. One of the substantial rewards for winners of this contest is performance of the prize work by the Philharmonic, and it was thus that we came to hear 'Night Music.' It turned out to be a meager ten minutes of m usic by a young composer who knows how to reproduce the tenuous orchestral colors of Impressionism with a fair degree of expertness.

"According to the program notes provided by the composer 'Night Music' was from a symphony that had one movement too many, and the name was given to the piece after it was extracted from the symphony. We are told that 'night' is to be interpreted in a broad way as 'a symbol of whatever is dark, unknown, awesome, mysterious or demonic.' Both this program and the grotesque opening solo for contra-bassoon immediately put me in mind of the modern dance events on Fifty-second St. Valiantly as the player tried to redeem this solo in the deep dark pitch regions that seem almost below the margin of hearing, the result was a highly unprepossessing opening. It sorely c4ried out for some strakm eexpresionsitc, tortured stage counterpart.

"There followed a promising section that verged, in a mild way, on a valid episodic, spasmodic contemporary chromaticism. But in less than two minutes this gave way to a far too easy solution for the piece as a whole, namely, a prolonged sonority consisting largely of muted harmonies on the strings, against which the cello play a long improvisatory solo after the fashion of Bloch's 'Schelomo.' Laszlo Varga's cello tone was very pretty, but the music was empty and banal.

"'Night Music' dates from four years ago. The composer tells us that it preceded his 'first efforts in the technique of twelve-tone composition,' and we may assume from this intelligence that he means to say he has gone on to higher things since. The Gershwin committee must have had very slim pickings, indeed, to come up with this work as the prize-winner."

Sure, there may be some envy at work here on Berger's part, but "empty and banal" would-be soulful lyricism against a backdrop of the table-pounding grandiose ("'night" as "a symbol of whatever is dark, unknown, awesome, mysterious or demonic" -- love that "whatever") is exactly how most Rochberg hits me.

[Spontooneous]

A quick tangent: This Arthur Berger CD is extraordinary.

[Larry Kart]

A quick tangent: This Arthur Berger CD is extraordinary.

It sure is. Never heard anything of his that didn't intrigue me, though I wish there were more of it. On the other hand, a la Webern, the smallish size of his output is a sign of an at best sublimely fastidious mind at work.

[Mark Stryker]

Great thread gang -- peoples' enthusiasms have me anxious do explore music I don't know (Imbrie, Rawshtorne, Bax, Bridge). And Berger rocks ...

Re: Rochberg -- his music has never thrilled me either but, historically, as the first big-name American serialist who morphed into a neo-romantic, he became a key figure in helping to topple the hegemony of serialism, paving the way for the post-modern age. The 3rd Quartet (1972) is the turning point.

My contribution to the discussion is Leon Kirchner, still underrated but coming on strong, whose four quartets comprise a really profound cycle. The Orion String Quartet is in the process of recording all four, but it's not available yet. Meantime, you can get the first three on this indespensible disc: http://www.amazon.com/Kirchner-Historic-Re...6826&sr=8-2

I heard the Orion play all four quartets in a single evening here last summer and it was one of the great concert experiences of my adult life. Here's how I wrote it up. I don't usually gush this much but it was something else ...

LEON KIRCHNER GETS ROYAL TREATMENT AT GREAT LAKES FESTIVAL

ORION FOURSOME PLAYS COMPOSER'S 4 STRING QUARTETS

BY MARK STRYKER

FREE PRESS MUSIC CRITIC

June 20, 2007

The Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival traditionally features a concert devoted solely to its resident composer for the year. It's always a treat, but Monday's traversal of all four of Leon Kirchner's string quartets - a 57-year autobiographical arch from 1949 to 2006, with the 88-year-old composer in attendance - was one for the ages.

Bristling with a revelatory sense of discovery and thrilling authority, the evening underscored the Kirchner zeitgeist. Neglected for decades, the 88-year-old American composer's uniquely personal modernism is in the full flush of being rediscovered. The Great Lakes festival engaged several Kirchner champions this year, including the Orion String Quartet, whose fiercely committed and polished performances Monday upped the ante even further.

The concert was a repeat of the Orion's March program for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York, where Kirchner's music was celebrated all season.

Why Kirchner and why now? Perhaps because his music fills a niche in today's pluralist scene. For listeners who find high-modernist complexity too bullying, minimalism too simple, neo-romanticism too mushy and post-modernism too derivative or affected, Kirchner's tautly argued but communicative music satisfies both the mind and heart. Though a student of Arnold Schoenberg, Kirchner remained an ear composer rather than a system composer. His four quartets balance sinewy textures, pugnacious rhythms and ambiguous harmony perched on the edge of atonality with a lifelong addiction to beauty, intuition and a storyteller's command of tension and release.

The String Quartet No. 1 (1949), for example, lurches forward in a tremendous rush of coiled energy, recedes into rhapsodic solos and then splinters into free counterpoint rife with tannic dissonance and aggression. The piece was famously called Bartok's Seventh Quartet by Hungarian violinist Josef Szigeti (Bartok wrote six), but its high-strung carriage also sounds like music born of the atomic age.

The Second Quartet (1958) is a masterpiece. Its three movements, played without pause, total 15 minutes and pack a concentrated punch. The music is dense with thematic ideas that grow in tightly organized but never predictable patterns. Textures are thinner than in the earlier quartet, with a darkly hued, almost Brahmsian luminescence hovering in the adagio. Scurrying chromatic lines turn the finale into a dervish. The final gesture, a sweetly tonal chord that turns deliciously sour is typical Kirchner.

Scored for string quartet and electronic tape, the Third Quartet (1966) won the Pulitzer Prize in 1967, but it has not aged as well as the earlier works. The bleeps, bloops and blats sound too much like a 1950s version of the future. At Kirchner's suggestion, the Orion Quartet segued directly into the Fourth Quartet, which was written for them last year. The effect was stunning, as the final 13 minutes felt like a homecoming, the composer returning to clarified textures, romantic melody and shimmering harmony.

The Orion Quartet brought an intensely focused blend, plangent warmth and technical aplomb to all of the music, alert to the mercurial shifts of mood and expression. They were met with rapturous applause, and in a touching coda, ended the evening by walking down the center aisle to shake the composer's hand one by one.

Edited March 1, 2008 by Mark Stryker

[Joe]

Larry -- thanks for the reply.

Get your slings and arrows ready... I happened to hear the Orion Quartet's recording on Wynton Marsalis' "At The Octoroon Balls" on local radio here (KCSN) yesterday. Definitely a pastiche, but a pretty enjoyable pastiche overall.

[Guy Berger]

Don't forget Janacek

Janacek's are magnificent, especially "Intimate Letters".

Also, I remember Berg's two string quartets -- especially "The Lyric Suite" being really good. Fans of Bartok should definitely check them out.

On the other hand, I didn't get much out of Webern's work in the medium, though I understand its significance.

Was Ravel's (only) quartet written after 1900? Despite an overall preference for Debussy, I think his younger contemporary did a better job in this format.

Guy

Edited March 2, 2008 by Guy

[Chuck Nessa]

I love the Weberns.

[Rooster_Ties]

Get your slings and arrows ready... I happened to hear the Orion Quartet's recording on Wynton Marsalis' "At The Octoroon Balls" on local radio here (KCSN) yesterday. Definitely a pastiche, but a pretty enjoyable pastiche overall.

I've heard Wynton's Octoroon quartet, and I enjoyed it quite a bit more than I'd expected to. If I ever see a used copy really cheap, I might even get it.

I love the Weberns.

More generally speaking (not just of string quartets), I really don't care much for Webern (though I love Berg and Schoenberg).

So, now practically everyone here should have at least something to vehemently disagree with me about.

Edited March 2, 2008 by Rooster_Ties

[Chuck Nessa]

Was Ravel's (only) quartet written after 1900? Despite an overall preference for Debussy, I think his younger contemporary did a better job in this format.

Guy

Doesn't really matter. Lots of 19th century quartets written since WW I.

[7/4]

Doesn't really matter. Lots of 19th century quartets written since WW I.

This has to be the quote of the month.

[7/4]

More generally speaking (not just of string quartets), I really don't care much for Webern (though I love Berg and Schoenberg).

I've never heard Schoenberg's string quartets. I should. Curious...

Webern,

Berg, not heard.

[Guy Berger]

Was Ravel's (only) quartet written after 1900? Despite an overall preference for Debussy, I think his younger contemporary did a better job in this format.

Guy

Doesn't really matter. Lots of 19th century quartets written since WW I.

All that matters, to me at least, is whether it's good music.

Guy

[Spontooneous]

Came home from the used CD dumping grounds today with a disc featuring a string quartet by Matthijs Vermeulen, whose Symphony No. 2 on this disc has messed with my brain. It'll be my late-night listen tonight.

(Still can't believe 7/4 doesn't have the Schoenberg Quartets 2 and 4 memorized yet, or the Bergs.)

Edited March 2, 2008 by Spontooneous

[Larry Kart]

while "douchebags" still buy Keith Jarrett & Brad Melhdau or even goddamn Joe Lovano & Hank Jones cds...

THIS (Bartok) is the real jass, junior

go forth & dig it--

edc

That's some performance, EDC. Also, as I think Chuck recently said on that Scriabin thread, the use to which pianists of Mehldau's vintage have put AS is mostly a pain in the butt. For all its undeniable, fragrant charms, there's a reason that AS's music was a virtual dead end.

[7/4]

(Still can't believe 7/4 doesn't have the Schoenberg Quartets 2 and 4 memorized yet, or the Bergs.)

I'll do something about the Schoenberg issue real soon. Berg can wait...

[Guy Berger]

(Still can't believe 7/4 doesn't have the Schoenberg Quartets 2 and 4 memorized yet, or the Bergs.)

I'll do something about the Schoenberg issue real soon. Berg can wait...

I have only heard Schoenberg #2 which I like -- but I would guess that many would suggest your priorities should be reversed.

Guy

[Rooster_Ties]

(Still can't believe 7/4 doesn't have the Schoenberg Quartets 2 and 4 memorized yet, or the Bergs.)

I'll do something about the Schoenberg issue real soon. Berg can wait...

Berg can wait??? The hell it can!!

If somebody can find a reasonably priced copy of this on-line (used or otherwise), 7/4, I will personally buy this particular recording for you. Seriously...

Alban Berg Quartett, CDC 5 55190 2, © 1994 EMI Records, recorded in 1991 and 1992

Edited March 2, 2008 by Rooster_Ties

[Late]

Just exploring the Maggini's output on Naxos — all sorts of composers I've never heard of come flying into the radar. Bax, Bliss, Davies, Quincy Porter, and more. (Maybe the Porter recordings are by another quartet. Can't remember at the moment.)

Anyone here heard Ben Johnston's string quartets? I've heard parts of his Microtonal Piano and liked the sounds mucho.

Thanks to this thread, four Naxos discs of string quartets are on their way to my doorstep:

• Coates

• Szymanowski

• Rawsthorne

• Janacek

Tower.com actually stocks a lot of Naxos titles — most under $7. An affordable way to explore the field. (Never got to the Naxos thread here. I'll have to dig it up.)

Also picked up a disc by the Stanford String Quartet performing Bridge, Milhaud, and Faure. Haven't spun it yet.

I'm not getting/hearing Cage and Feldman yet, but Conlon Nancarrow's work resonates with me right away.

[7/4]

Anyone here heard Ben Johnston's string quartets? I've heard parts of his Microtonal Piano and liked the sounds mucho.

Oh yeah. For a Harry Partch student, he sounds nothing like him. His (classical) music is a departure from all that minimalism and Asian influence that most folks associate with microtonal music.

• Kepler Quartet
  
  
• sequenza21 article
  
  
• A Conversation with Ben Johnston
  
  

The Microtonal Piano music is amazing, a bit different from what others have done with the piano and microtones. Less of the hymnotic drone and more of the abstract splat.

[Mark Stryker]

Anyone here heard Ben Johnston's string quartets? I've heard parts of his Microtonal Piano and liked the sounds mucho.

Oh yeah. For a Harry Partch student, he sounds nothing like him. His (classical) music is a departure from all that minimalism and Asian influence that most folks associate with microtonal music.

• Kepler Quartet
  
  
• sequenza21 article
  
  
• A Conversation with Ben Johnston
  
  

The Microtonal Piano music is amazing, a bit different from what others have done with the piano and microtones. Less of the hymnotic drone and more of the abstract splat.

Thanks for bringing up Ben Johnston's music -- I adore this music. The Kepler's CD is the first of what I believe is a projected three CDs of Ben's 10 quartets -- a heroic project. Thanks to a Kronos recording from some time ago, the best known is No. 4, a mesmerizing set of microtonal variations on "Amazing Grace." The earlier works are basically atonal and idiosyncratic in their use of avant-garde techniques. The later works return to tonality with more references to the past. I recall the 9th as being particularly warm hearted. All of his music is profoundly human, often witty. Ben was still teaching at the University of Illinois when I arrived on campus in 1981. He retired a couple years later and I unfortunately never got to know him.

Edited March 6, 2008 by Mark Stryker

[7/4]

I'm looking forward to hearing the complete Ben Johnston string quartets by Kepler. Kronos bailed on recording any more, too difficult for them, or so I heard.

[randyhersom]

I tried a disc of the Peter Maxwell Davies quartets on (and commissioned by) Naxos. Nothing connected on first listen and too much music syndrome has delayed the second listen. Nice idea though, Naxos is a good company with their heart in the right place.