Leos Janacek with his wife Zdenka Schulzova the year they married, 1881 Photo: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
Leoš Janáček’s 'String Quartet No 1' is subtitled 'Kreutzer Sonata' after Russian author Tolstoy’s novella of the same name. The novella was, in turn, named after Beethoven’s own 'Kreutzer Sonata'.
Tolstoy’s tale describes a train journey in which a husband tells a fellow passenger the tragic events of his marriage. The husband relates how he introduced a violinist to his pianist wife. One evening the two perform Beethoven’s ‘Kreutzer Sonata' to a small gathering. Fuelled by jealousy, the husband later stabs his wife to death upon finding her with the violinist.
Janáček’s work with it’s emotional, technical and dynamic extremes, places enormous demands upon the musicians. One music commentator noted that ‘the instruments seem frustrated by the limits of their ability to communicate, like partners in a wasted marriage.’
The despair of the opening theme sets the scene for this quartet.
Recorded 29 June 2019 at St. Mary of the Angels, Wellington by RNZ Concert
Producer/engineer: Darryl Stack
