Two quartets

Score Parties. Par BEETHOVEN LUDWIG VAN. When Beethoven wrote these three quartets he was 15 years old and a composition student of Christian Gottlob Neefe in Bonn. They reveal a strong Mozartian influence while the brilliant piano writing already gives a sense of the mature Beethoven. He may conceivably have written the works for the wealthy Mastiaux family in Bonn, as he gave piano lessons to one of the daughters and the other three siblings played violin, viola and violoncello. The sole source for the quartets is the autograph score which contains many overwritings that shed light on the works' original conception and possible alternative readings. Although Beethoven never published the pieces in his lifetime and is not known to have performed them, he reused their melodic and thematic material in later compositions. Beethoven preserved the autograph score to the end of his days ? perhaps an indication that the quartets meant a great deal to him. The first edition was published by Artaria in Vienna one year after his death, albeit with the pieces in a different order and with many errors in the musical text. Bärenreiter's scholarly performing edition of the Piano Quartets WoO 36 is edited by the Italian pianist Leonardo Miucci, a specialist in the performance practice of keyboard music from this period. The edition not only presents the correct readings, it also sheds light on the young Beethoven's expressive notation and provides a plausible explanation for the distinction he made between dots and strokes to indicate staccato./ Répertoire / Quatuor pour Piano, Violon, Alto et Violoncelle

Par POHJOLA SEPPO. According to Jouni Kaipainen, the fourth string quartet (2006) is one of key works of Seppo Pohjola (b. 1965) and holds a place as a landmark in Finnish quartet literature. Of the composer's five string quartets, it is the longest and has the widest thematic arcs of his quartets. Seppo Pohjola has gone through a variety of styles in his musical career. He began as a strict Modernist, progressed towards Expressionism and took on board Romantic influences before ending up in the early 2000s in (a reformed brand of) Modernism again. Osmo Tapio Räihälä describes the end result thus: “The ‘new' Pohjola often anchors his style in a frenetic pulse through which he builds musical processes.” Duration c. 33 minutes. Score (A4) and parts (B4)./ Répertoire / String Quartet

Appony Quartets-Joseph Haydn composed the string quartets known as Op.71/74 also called the 'Apponyi' Quartets in 1793. The composer dated the autograph scores accordingly although the year that appears on those of the B flat major and D majorquartets shows signs of having been corrected. These two works might already have been finished in 1792. However it is certain that Op.71/74 were composed in Vienna during the period between Haydn's two journeys to England andintended as a series of six quartets.The decision to divide the quartets into two sets of three was taken by the publishers. The three Quartets Op.71 were first published in 1795 by Corri Dussek & Co. then in a slightlyrevised reprint by the Viennese publishing house of Artaria & Co.

Tost Quartets-The chamber music world has been eagerly awaiting this all of Haydn's string quartets are finally available in Henle Urtext quality! This edition contains the String Quartets op. 54/55 sometimes also known as the 'First TostQuartets'. Contrary to what the opus numbers might suggest it is a cohesive cycle of six works. Mozart's influence is felt more deeply the forms are more diverse and the first Violin is every now and then required to do realacrobatics. In this volume in particular several treasures can be found that are not often played.