Rare Page - Quartet in F Hess 32

[Peter]

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'Man know thyself'

[Rod]

Originally posted by Peter:
Now available to members at
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I must apologise for the performance of this 'con brio' movement in a 'molto moderato' manner, but this is typical for this movement from my experience.

The original is on occasion more conventionally dramatic, I think, than the revision, but the latter is superior from a textural point of view thanks to the thinning out process. The less refined original is interesting if one considers B's earlier string trios, which already posessed the more typically refined Beethoven style. With the original I am strangely reminded more of the string quintet op4 in this respect.

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

[This message has been edited by Rod (edited February 03, 2003).]

[Rod]

Of course to fully understand the significance of this track you will need to have heard Op18 Nr1, but I'm sure you've ALL heard this piece.

[Peter]

Originally posted by Rod:
Of course to fully understand the significance of this track you will need to have heard Op18 Nr1, but I'm sure you've ALL heard this piece.

It was the first B quartet I ever heard as I 'did it' for music GCE 'O'level - Of the Op.18 set it is certainly my favourite (I especially love the slow movement) - I am looking forward to hearing the original version when I have some time this evening or tomorrow.

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'Man know thyself'

[Rod]

Originally posted by Peter:
It was the first B quartet I ever heard as I 'did it' for music GCE 'O'level - Of the Op.18 set it is certainly my favourite (I especially love the slow movement) - I am looking forward to hearing the original version when I have some time this evening or tomorrow.

Then you should be especially qualified to pass judgement, which I look forward to reading. I chose the first movemement because it seems to have the most differences compared to the revision.



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

[Peter]

Originally posted by Rod:
Then you should be especially qualified to pass judgement, which I look forward to reading. I chose the first movemement because it seems to have the most differences compared to the revision.

Very interesting - Anna Kawall (nee Amenda) in 1904 gave permission for the development section of the 1st mov of this version to be published - I'd be interested to know when the first known complete performance of this version was.

What strikes me at first is not so much the differences but that which he retained in the later version. The harmonic structure seems pretty much in tact as is the melodic detail but the part writing is definitely fuller and richer in the later version.

Schumann's 4th symphony underwent similar revisions - in both cases I can't but help feel that the later versions are the better as they seem more complete.

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'Man know thyself'

[Rod]

Originally posted by Peter:


What strikes me at first is not so much the differences but that which he retained in the later version. The harmonic structure seems pretty much in tact as is the melodic detail but the part writing is definitely fuller and richer in the later version.

What struck me was the revision (op18/1) as a whole was much more compact - a lot of wastage had been cut off and the remainder 'beefed up', ie as you say the part writing is much improved . The original has a lot more bars to it.

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

[This message has been edited by Rod (edited February 05, 2003).]