DDD Absolutely Digital™ CDR 90000 056 TCHAIKOVSKY String Quartet No. 1 in D major, Op. 11 (28:20) 1 I. Moderato e semplice (10:55) 2 II. Andante cantabile (6:15) 3 III. Scherzo: Allegro non tanto (4:02) 4 IV. Finale: Allegro giusto (6:54) String Quartet No. 3 in E-flat minor, Op. 30 (38:45) 5 I. Andante sostenuto – Allegro moderato – Andante sostenuto (16:41) 6 II. Allegretto vivo e scherzando (4:14) 7 III. Andante funebre e doloroso ma con moto (11:29) 8 IV. Finale: Allegro non troppo e risoluto (6:07) Vermeer Quartet Shmuel Ashkenasi & Mathias Tacke, violins Total Time: (67:15) ba Richard Young, viola Marc Johnson, cello Cedille Records is a trademark of The Chicago Classical Recording Foundation, a not- for-profit foundation devoted to promoting the finest musicians and ensembles in the Chicago area. The Chicago Classical Recording Foundation’s activities are supported in part by contributions and grants from individuals, foundations, corporations, and govern- ment agencies including the WPWR-TV Channel 50 Foundation, the Chicago Depart- ment of Cultural Affairs (CityArts III Grant), and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency. TCHAIKOVSKY STRING QUARTETS NOS. 1 & 3 by Andrea Lamoreaux The frequency with which we hear the music enrich and vary concert programs and recitals of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky — in concert and to a much greater extent than they currently on recordings — is the subject of much com- do. The Tchaikovsky chamber works heard most mentary. Such comments often rise to the sta- often are his Piano Trio in A Minor and the tus of complaints: a concert-goer exclaiming, sextet subtitled Souvenir de Florence (the latter “The Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto AGAIN?”, reflecting Tchaikovsky’s love for Italy along with or a CD reviewer questioning the need for his skill for creating lush string sonority). Consid- yet another recording of the Symphony No. 5, erably less familiar are the three works he wrote for example. Of course, Tchaikovsky’s mature in the more common chamber conformation of symphonic masterpieces are among the most the string quartet. With this CD the Vermeer beautifully melodic and richly harmonized works Quartet joins a relative handful of ensembles in all the classical repertory; so they deserve that have recorded the entire set. (Quartet No. to be played with great frequency. But there is 2 is paired with Souvenir de Florence on Cedille another “Tchaikovsky” whose music one could Records CDR 90000 017.) never claim is overplayed. Unlike many great musicians, Tchaikovsky was In his relatively short lifetime of 53 years (1840- not a child prodigy. Up to his early twenties he 1893), Tchaikovsky excelled at all the established expected to take up a civil-service career. Fortu- musical genres of the 19th century — sympho- nately, he found his calling when he began taking ny, concerto, tone poem, opera, ballet, choral classes at the new music school Anton Rubin- music, chamber music, solo piano, and song. Yet stein founded in St. Petersburg. After leaving the there is much that we rarely get to hear. For St. Petersburg Conservatory, he embarked on a example, among his eleven full-length operas, three-fold career that involved teaching at the only two are widely produced outside of Rus- even newer conservatory of Moscow, writing sia: Yevgeny Onegin and The Queen of Spades. music criticism, and composing. His string quar- And even the latter work, a musico-dramatic tets all date from what might be called his first masterpiece by any standard, is still something creative period: the late 1860s through early of a novelty. (Lyric Opera of Chicago, one of the Seventies. Prominent pieces from those years world’s major companies, presented it for the include Romeo and Juliet, the first three sympho- first time in the fall of 2000.) nies, the B-Flat Minor Piano Concerto, and his The story is much the same with Tchaikovsky’s first ballet, Swan Lake. piano music, choral works, and songs. Though The works from this period were, for the most all are represented on recordings, they could part, successful. They did not provide immediate financial security, however. Tchaikovsky’s life as a word. (Composers on Music, Josiah Fisk, editor, fulltime composer of independent means would Northwestern University Press, Boston, 1997) not begin until 1876. That’s when Nadezhda Tchaikovsky’s cordial but arm’s-length relation- von Meck, a wealthy, music-loving widow, took ship with Mme. von Meck (they never met) particular interest in The Tempest, a Shakespear- was still in the future in 1871, when Tchaikovsky ean fantasy that followed Romeo and Juliet. The decided to supplement his modest income stipend she granted Tchaikovsky freed him from from teaching and journalism by staging a con- money worries and also led to an extraordinary cert of his own works in Moscow. This first-ever exchange of letters in which the composer all-Tchaikovsky program featured some piano shared thoughts about his craft. This extract works, a group of songs, and a brand-new string from a letter of March 1878 offers some reveal- quartet. The pianist was Nikolai Rubinstein, ing comments: Tchaikovsky’s mentor at the Moscow Conserva- You ask how I manage my instrumentation. I tory. The string players were members of the never compose in the abstract; that is to say, the Russian Musical Society, led by another Moscow musical thought never appears otherwise than faculty member, eight years Tchaikovsky’s senior: in a suitable external form. In this way I invent violinist Ferdinand Laub. the musical idea and the instrumentation simul- Newspaper critic Herman Laroche raved, taneously. Thus I thought out the scherzo of [the “Tchaikovsky’s compositions revealed a rich and Fourth Symphony] at the moment of its compo- sympathetic talent. The String Quartet was dis- sition — exactly as you heard it. It is inconceiv- tinguished by the same delightfully succulent able except as pizzicato. Were it played with the melodies, beautifully and interestingly harmo- bow, it would lose all its charm and be a mere nized, the same mobility of tone — so foreign body without a soul. to the commonplace — the same . softness, As regards the Russian element in my works, to which we have become accustomed in this I may tell you that not infrequently I begin a gifted composer.” composition with the intention of introducing Those “rich melodies” appear from the outset some folk melody into it. Sometimes it comes of of Tchaikovsky’s String Quartet No. 1 in D its own accord, unbidden . As to this national major, Op. 11. The first movement, marked element in my work, its affinity with the folk- Moderato e semplice, is a bit slower than most songs in some of my melodies and harmonies Classical-Romantic opening movements. Two comes from my having spent my childhood in themes, the second announced by the viola, the country and, from my earliest years, having intertwine and contrast throughout, accentu- been filled with the characteristic beauty of our ated by syncopated rhythms. Russian folk music. I am passionately fond of the national element in all its varied expressions. In The second movement is an exception to the short, I am Russian in the fullest sense of the general observation that Tchaikovsky’s cham- ber music is not too well known. This is the Quartet’s history: Leo Tolstoy is said to have famous Andante Cantabile that has been rear- burst into tears when he first heard the Andante ranged countless ways, and is probably one of Cantabile. A thoroughly Romantic-era reaction, the composer’s best-known pieces — except perhaps, but also a testament to the power of in its original form. It reflects the love of Rus- Tchaikovsky’s melodic gifts. sian folk music about which he wrote to Mme. Tchaikovsky dedicated his String Quartet von Meck. The main theme comes from a tune No. 3 in E-Flat minor, Op. 30 to the mem- called “Vanya sat on the divan and smoked a ory of Ferdinand Laub, who played first violin in pipe of tobacco” (or, in another translation, the Russian Musical Society ensembles that pre- “Vanya one night sat sadly on the divan, a glass miered Tchaikovsky’s First and Second Quartets. of rum in his hand, to drown his sorrow and Laub was born in Prague in 1832 and first forget tomorrow”). He heard and transcribed appeared in public at the age of six. After a con- this tune while at his favorite country retreat, a cert career that took him all over Europe (and family estate called Kamenka. All other themes partnered him with such luminaries as pianist in the quartet are the composer’s own, though Clara Schumann and soprano Adelina Patti), he some may also have been influenced by his settled in Moscow in 1866, to teach at the new affection for folksong. Like his Bohemian con- conservatory and lead both orchestral concerts temporary, Antonin Dvor˘ák, Tchaikovsky was and chamber-music evenings. Friends and col- usually not inclined toward direct quotations of leagues throughout the continent mourned folksongs; he preferred instead to compose new Laub’s untimely death in March of 1875. His melodies that recall folk music without precisely virtuoso performances included not only the emulating it. standard concertos but also works by Bach, The shortest movement of the D major Quar- whose violin sonatas were not staple concert tet is an intense and lively Scherzo. The Finale fare in that day. again reveals Tchaikovsky’s love for folk music. Tchaikovsky’s Third Quartet was premiered Each of its two main themes is reminiscent of in March of 1876 by the same group that had folksong melodies.