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Alongside its highly praised Haydn series, the Doric
String Quartet continues its Schubert journey with this
second volume of quartets, which precipitates us into
the fraught world of late Schubert. Both composers
will be central in the Quartet's recitals next year, to
take place in the highest-profile international venues,
from New York's Carnegie Hall to Berlin's
Konzerthaus, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, and
London's Wigmore Hall.
Franz Schubert returned to composing string quartets
in the 1820s, after four years of focusing on songs
which were beginning to gain him wider recognition.
His late chamber compositions reveal probably his
most characteristic music, full of deep intimacy and
profound ambivalence.
The 'Quartettsatz' (Quartet Movement) presents a
turbulent, norm-breaking first movement. Only a
fragment survives of a serene Andante in A flat, and
nothing for any scherzo or finale. If the 'Rosamunde'
and 'Death and the Maiden' (CHAN 10737) are the
most frequently heard of the quartets of Schubert, his
last completed one – in G major – certainly remains
his most uncompromising in its vastness, and perhaps
his most prophetic of the musical future.
1 String Quartet No. 12 in C Minor, D. 703, "Quartettsatz" 09:16
2 String Quartet No. 15 in G Major, Op. 161, D. 887: I. Allegro molto moderato 22:19
3 String Quartet No. 15 in G Major, Op. 161, D. 887: II. Andante un poco mosso 11:48
4 String Quartet No. 15 in G Major, Op. 161, D. 887: III. Scherzo: Allegro vivace 07:20
5 String Quartet No. 15 in G Major, Op. 161, D. 887: IV. Allegro assai 11:04 |
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