#the chamber strings

[gasparodasalo]

Leopold Mozart (1719-87) - Sinfonia burlesca for 2 Violas, 2 Cellos and Basso continuo in G-Major, I. Sinfonia. Performed by Eduard Melkus/Ensemble Eduard Melkus on period instruments.

[mikrokosmos]

Franck - String Quartet in D Major (1890)

It's been a long time since I updated this blog with a new post. Too long. And to be honest it's been a tough year for me personally. I've gone through different kinds of losses and had lost enthusiasm for this hobby of writing about music. Today was a pretty rough day emotionally and, if I'm allowed to use cliches, music "saved" me. At least this quartet brought me back into a music mindset, and I don't write about Franck that often here. Main reason is that, despite his esteem as a major or great composer of the later 19th century, his reputation relies on a handful of works from much later in his life. This String Quartet was his last completed work and it shows the hallmarks of his self-realized style; very lyrical and melancholic, constantly modulating and flowing through a stream of tonality. He had completed this after studying quartets by Beethoven, Schubert, and Brahms. Especially from Schubert is where we get unexpected modulations. Ironically this last work was the first to get him praise during his lifetime. And as with his other major works, the quartet is cyclical, with themes from each movement returning in the finale. And I hope this music lifts your spirits as well to end off 2023

Movements:

Poco Lento, Allegro

Scherzo: Vivace

Larghetto

Finale: Allegro molto

[nightriffs]

[spotsupstuff]

Does Boreas like listening to music?

i mean...

depends, really

after the Mass Ascension, he's cursed by all those devices randomly going off all over him. fun fact! "Walk Like a Man" by Frankie Valli is in the Eo playlist Specifically cuz it's the sort of music that often plays in this case. it's annoying, gives B headaches and he's just overall tired. doesn't help that he usually can' find the things

but anyway; before all that he still didn't normally listen to music by himself. he just doesn't see a point in it (as a person and also as a Gen 1- just like Moon, Boreas can't really understand feelings communicated by art forms. neither does Zephyr, Orion, Spore, Gem n so on)

but! Sparrows used to hang out with him for a few hours each time before she went to Zephyr to plan out repairs and resources/parts offered and made by Boreas. and well, after she married Euros and the whole Rot situation passed, she was able to just kick back and chill with Boreas like with proper family member. which means that she played him some of her music, since she's a music gal

despite his lack of ability to really understand it, he did secretly like these music hang outs Sparrows started and learned to quietly enthusastically await them. they had quite a few Talks™ during them (and eventually they resulted in Sparrows teaching him how to sing)

he ALSO has Euros for a brother (/son son sonny boy) so he didn't have much of choice but to listen to His music too. n then Haboob and Notos came by too and Euros was immediately like "oh i know what to do. girls girls girls!!! c'mon and let's harmonize. one and two one and two!" while on call with B and there it went. n then "Boreaaaaassss!!! BOREAS!!!!!!! come on, join us!!! we need a bass singer in here! your voice is deeper than the goddamn Void Sea get in here."

[thesobsister]

Kronos Quartet, "The Funky Chicken"

The leadoff cut from their debut album. Which I'd never even heard of until last Friday. Very good, to start, plus it's the first branches of the musically ecumenical tree that the Kronos crew would grow over the last 50 years.

[nurhanarman]

Mendelssohn: Chamber Symphony op 80a mov. 4

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy was born on this day 215 years ago. His 80th opus 'String Quartet No. 6 in F Minor' is one of Mendelssohn's greatest contributions to the chamber music repertoire. Probably it is also the most tormented work he ever composed as it sings out of his symbiotic relationship with sister Fanny Hensel, a fine composer who died at age 41. Here is an excerpt from my orchestral arrangement of this work also known as 'Requiem for Fanny'. https://youtu.be/VAQ6I4-hrzQ Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy: Chamber Symphony op  80a 'Requiem for Fanny' (String Quartet No. 6 in F Minor) IV. Finale: Allegro molto Sinfonia Toronto / Nurhan Arman, Conductor String orchestra version by Nurhan Arman. Recorded live in CBC Glenn Gould Studio on January 25, 2019.

[dustedmagazine]

Morton Feldman — Violin and String Quartet (Another Timbre)

Composed in 1985, just two years before he died of cancer in 1987, Morton Feldman’s Violin and String Quartet embodies his interests in patterns, such as the intricate, slightly asymmetrical threading of Asian rugs. Similarly, Violin and String Quartet contains off-kilter, slowly evolving harmonies, post-tonal in terms of trajectory; they are  self-contained entities that inhabit a place in which instability and repetition conjoin.

Quintets with violins are somewhat unusual. In a standard classical piece by Mozart or Schubert, one is more likely to find two violas or cellos. The group of players here — Mira Benjamin, Chihiro Ono, and Amalia Young, violins, Bridget Carey, viola, and Anton Lukoszevieze, cello — play together as if this is the most ubiquitous of instrumentations. Their level of attention to tiny details in the score, as well as their unflagging energy, make this an important document of Feldman’s late music.

The designation of one of the violins separately is significant. Sometimes the first violin will be required to play a solo role, tearing off from tutti ostinato passages to play altissimo high notes and polyrhythms —often five against four — that delineate it from the rest of the group. At others, its upper register sustained notes meld with the string quartet.

Like most of Feldman’s late music, Violin and String Quartet is quite long, well over two hours, and prevailingly slow and soft. The piece begins with verticals that are morphed by small glissandos into rubbery totems. These are contrasted by moments of glassine verticals, played with straight tone. For a stretch two-thirds of the way in, the first violin’s harmonics are set against blocks of enigmatic chords.

Without a linear narrative or break in the action, a piece of such long duration is difficult to summarize. Perhaps that is part of the point. Attention to small details and their variations is rewarded, just as a meditative stance can be a way to contemplate Feldman’s music. In a pre-concert talk about a different piece, Feldman was quoted as saying,”It’s a short three hours!” Approached with an open mind and ears, Violin and String Quartet can feel the same way.

Christian Carey

[sjwallin]

The Official Release of SHARDS

SHARDS is officially available for listening today! Go check out where to stream or buy it, as well as liner notes and artist info, here! Also… enjoy photos from some of the recording sessions purchase the score collection as a PDF or hardcover book Enjoy! 💕

[onenakedfarmer]

Currently Playing

Einar Englund PIANO QUINTET (1941) STRING QUARTET (1985)

Sinfonia Lahti Chamber Ensemble Peter Lönnqvist

[saviourkingslut]

why is it that whenever you look up the best recordings for a particular piece of classical music everyone is always like "well there's a few good recent ones but the absolute best is obviously the legendary 1960 recording" and you look it up and it's the crustiest piece of classical music you've ever heard

[joanofarc]

seeking bread and heaven, shelleyan orphan (1987).

but in my hands i shake the sun the pearl of the future in my hands but in my hands i shake the sun

[gasparodasalo]

Gustav Holst (1874-1934) - Lyric Movement for Viola and Small Orchestra in d-minor. Performed by Vyvyan Yendoll, viola, and Nicholas Braithwaite/New Zealand Chamber Orchestra.

[nathancone]

Enjoy this lovely bit of Dvorak I recorded earlier this month!

[prose2passion]

Johannes Brahms, String Quartet No.3 op.67 - GoYa Quartet   

have listened to all three of Brahms’ quartets today, and I think this is going to be my favourite among them.  NB it may just be the most accessible at first listening, but I really felt that it spoke to me in ways the other two didn’t.