Quartet Recordings/Upcoming Concerts

[PDG]

Originally posted by Michael:
Peter, I honestly don't know myself which is the harder to write as I can compose neither. I just mentioned that I had read about it somewhere and the "somewhere" turns out to be the Beethoven Companion where Robert Simpson writes:
"It is perhaps not surprising that Beethoven, before embarking on ..the quartets... should tackle the more rigorous medium of the string trio - more rigorous, that is to say, in the sense that it is more difficult to create a sonority productive of momentum with three than with four parts....The real difficulty .. is not to find the means of producing a full texture .. but to make the movement of the parts themselves develop an organic energy without attenuating themselves. It is surprising how often the second violin in a quartet will be found to save the situation; the string trio must learn to live without it".
Nobody is suggesting that the trios are superior to the quartets (I can't think of ANYTHING superior to the quartets!) but on a purely technical level they may present more of a challenge to the composer - at least until he wrote the Rasumovskies where all bets are off.
Incidentally, did I not say that the trios paved the way for Opus 18?
Michael

Michael, I understand what you're saying, but I stand by my assertion that by their very nature, quartets are technically more difficult to compose well than trios. If in op.18 the second violin were superfluous,then you would have a point, but nowhere is this the case; the writing for the second violin is as inspired as it is with the other strings. I don't hear anywhere in op.18 the second violin "saving the situation". Beethoven's acquired mastery of trio writing enabled him to tackle the more problematical genre of the quartet.

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PDG (Peter)

[Rod]

Originally posted by PDG:
No, although I'd say that any of opus 9 is still greater even than Mozart's trio, K.563. The number of instruments used is primarily based on the harmonic possibilities of the material deployed. Bach's Cello Suites for solo Cello are considered masterpieces, yet would sound weak if their music were shared between two cellos. This is always a judgement call by the composer. A string quartet MUST be more difficult to compose than a string trio because the necessary interplay among the instruments is more complex with four strings, not to mention the fine balancing act required between the two violins. Even a quintet is not considered so tough an assignment because two cellos or two violas are easier to balance with two violins. Brahms was never satisfied with his quartets, and even Mozart could not compose them fluently - his manuscripts are full of crossings-out & mistakes!

When all is said & done, it is a fact that Beethoven very quickly abandoned composing string trios in preference of the greater challenges presented by quartets.

Well, I'll have to agree to differ, every man and his dog were writing quartets at this time. I would not go so far as to say that op9 are musically superior to op18 but I would say that op9 are certainly more Beethovenian and stylistically homogenous in their conception and construction than op18. I would certanly say thay op9 are not inferior to op18. But op18 are generally under-realised performance-wise even by 'authentic' performers.

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"If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod Corkin