New Zealand String Quartet: Turning Points 3

MOZART: String Quartet No 19 in C K465, Dissonance

Portrait of Mozart Photo: Barbara Krafft, Public Domain

This quartet acquired its nick-name in the 19^th century on account of its harmonically adventurous introduction.

The introduction is unsettling to listen to. When the score came out in 1785 people thought it was audacious - Italian music dealers returned the scores to the publisher because they believed it was full of mistakes. One Hungarian prince was so upset hearing it played by his household quartet that he tore up the music. Even Haydn was shocked, but he defended Mozart by saying, “Well, if Mozart wrote it, he must have meant it?”

The searching and ethereal introduction is the perfect emotional foil for the brilliant and sunny music that follows. Eventually the so-called “wrong notes” transform into cheeky ones. Listen out for the incredible dynamic contrasts – these abrupt loud to soft contrasts are the influence of Haydn who was Mozart’s friend and colleague.

Recorded 26 August 2018, St. Andrew's on The Terrace, Wellington by RNZ Concert

Sound engineer: Darryl Stack

WEBERN: Langsamer Satz

Kiwa Quartet Photo: Supplied

Malavika Gopal & Alan Molina (violins), Sophia Acheson (viola) and guest cellist for this concert Rolf Gjelsten.

The beautiful alpine countryside of Lower Austria is where Anton Webern liked to hike. It was there that Webern found inspiration for his 'Langsamer Satz' (slow movement). Webern was 21, and his cousin Wilhelmine, who later became his wife, was his companion on the trip.

Webern's more famous avant-garde music was still some years in the future, and this passionate piece is descended from the 19th century romantic tradition of Brahms, Richard Strauss, and especially Gustav Mahler.

Recorded on 26 May 2019 at St. Andrew's on The Terrace, Wellington by RNZ Concert

Producer/Sound engineer: Darryl Stack

WEBERN: Six Bagatelles Op 9

Anton Webern Photo: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

Webern’s 'Six Bagatelles' reject all the opulence of late-Romantic style in favour of the lean austerity of atonal music. The “less is more” philosophy was clearly on his mind when he inscribed it with “non multa sed multum” (not many things but much).

Webern’s teacher Schoenberg – in justification of this new style, once said:

“Consider what moderation is required to express oneself so briefly. Each glance can be extended into a poem, each sigh into a novel. But to express a novel in a single gesture, a joy in a single in-drawn breath - such concentration can only be found where self-pity is absent…”

Recorded 26 August 2018, St. Andrew's on The Terrace, Wellington by RNZ Concert.

Sound engineer: Darryl Stack

BEETHOVEN: String Quartet in F Op 59/1, Razumovsky

New Zealand String Quartet Photo: Bruce Harris

Ludwig van Beethoven revolutionised the string quartet form through the various stages of his life.

This is the first of his so-called 'middle period' quartets – the Op 59 'Razumovsky Quartets', known for their greater length and technical difficulty.

When a violinist, struggling with the challenge of these quartets complained to Beethoven that they weren’t music, Beethoven promptly told him, “Oh, they are not for you, but for a later age”.

To satisfy a whim of his patron Count Razumovsky, Beethoven included a Russian theme in the final movement but he does so with a twist. He takes a sad, patriotic Russian theme, speeds it up and makes it fun. Beethoven had a conflicted relationship with the nobility. While he needed the money that came with this class of people, he also valued his own artistic licence and resented interference.

Recorded 26 August 2018, St. Andrew's on The Terrace, Wellington by RNZ Concert

Sound engineer: Darryl Stack