BIS-CD-467 STEREO ItlDIb-l Total playing time: 61'40 SCHNITTKE. Alfred (b. 1e34) String Quartet No. 1 ( 1966) ((rniuersat/sikorski) 18'57 T- Lll Sonata 7',59 ft r Canon 4',02 -J L9l Cadenza 6',56 String Quartet No.2 (1 980) (rlnioersat/sikorski) 2l'54 tr Moderato 2'58 r Lrl Agitato 5',58 r Lql Mesto s',52 tr Moderato 6'59 String Quartet No.3 (1983) (Lrniaersat/sikorski) lg'33 tr Andante 5',07 tr Agitato 7',12 tr Pesante 7',11 The Tale Quartet (Tale Olsson, violin I; Patrik Swedrup, violin II; Ingegerd Kierkeeaard, viola; Helena Nilsson, cello) 's.itrrng in Leningrad in 1967 Alfred Schnittke Quartet No.,l $as first performed and created great interest in by the Boroclin Quartet, to whom it is cleclicatcil, - - inlbrmed circles. it comprises three movements Sonata,Canon and Cadenza which lbllow each other without a break. The formal descriptions are not to be taken too literallv: the Sonatadoes rvithgut the traditional recapitulati6n ' Ihe Canon holding is based on free imitation, wishinq to obtain the cffect of an echo without as on too flrmly to exact repeats of thc melodv. and the cadenzais t0 be understood a collectir.ecadenza for the four instruments bears Although the work is written in liee twelve-tone technique, it nevertheless mur:h clear sisni of a tonal order. Another traditional element is also emploved in a - altered iorm: the polyphony tends continuallv torvards heterophony to that type the ol manv-r.oiccd sn.,ni in which one and the same mel.dy is plaved by all a insrrumcnts in slightly modifiecl lbrms ancl rvith a small temporal olrset. Thus fbrrn .f manv-voiiecl iound emerges rvhich suggestsirnpro'isation. The composer and the stressesthat ihis ellect is intentional: "The trcatment ol the instruments the formal process aim for the impression of a quasi-improvisation in w.hich ,,uncertaint,v,,is continuallv increasing. In the second moYement it explodes the oeriodic -ei..: irt the third it leads tolhe abolition of metre and breaks through at a and.ines out in a quasi-aleatoric passage. Only after this does an attempt secm possible " reprise,'Th.'strrrg io complete the llrst movelnent. to the memorv of'the filrn Quartet No.2 lrom 1980 is dedicated prerious director Lu.Isru-Sh"pitk., who was fatallf injured in a car accident the (also a year. Schnittke, who was a close {iiend both of Shepitko and ofher husband illm director), wrote the music to her last *v. lllms. One ol these, 7'heUprtstng,was on awarded first prize at the 1977 Film Festival in west Berlin and was shown in German television in 1978. All lbur movcments exPresspain and lamentation calne as a various forms (Schnittke: "For me, and fcrrall who knew her. her death individual severe blow,'). Th" ,ho.t opening rnovement (A-B-A-cocletta) contains The consternarion in the dialogue betiveen cello and violin in the middle section. chords. main oarts of the second i.ot"-..r,, rvhich rush past with sudden broken 'l'his convey a choral ellect. collective lamentation is orsanized into three episodes which differ in construction and technique (swilt polyphonic development/dense wefi of trills/dissonant. rense culminarion) before a reminiscenr passaqr lrrill episode and lirst movement codetta) and the final repeat of'the arpeggio main section (with the codetta aeain inserted). f he third rnovement is as if petrified by pain. In an extremely dense weft o{ sound (all instruments double-voiced) the cantus in every parr wraps itself around thc central note. This lament reaches two climaxes: Iirst in an c,utbreak from the two violins, then in several hard chords lrom the c'rrre quarrer rnterrupted by frasments of the sccond mo'ement. The cantus of the fourth rnovement unlblds in a most gentle pianissimoout ol nothins, like a recitati'e. when however we hear tones oi warmth and reminiscence, an icily tinkling pizzicato makes us c.nscious of the loss. Alter an cxact quotation of the l'irst movement codetta. a circle is concluded with the hovcring harmonics Iiom the beginnine ol'the w.ork. For the first perlbrmance, {iven by the Muir (]uartet liom the u.s.A. at a strins quartct competition in Evian, France, Schnittke provided the lbllowine briei' comments: "Almost the entire t'nal material of the quartet, the movements ol which run together without a pause, is derir.ed from ancient Russian church sone. (The sacrcd music of 16th and 17th century Russia makes a quite unique impression with its dissonant heterophony.) Nevertheless this material is rreat;d quite lieely: diatonicthemes lrecome , hrornalir.thcir inrenals are dirr:irishedor iugment"d. and complicated playine techniques lead to an instability o| the scale levels. which lcads to choral effects." schnittke's string oJtartet No.3, which was c.mmissionetl bv the Mannhcim Society fbr New Music and written in 1983, dernonsrraresu pru."r, whirh is tvpical of the composcr and which also occurs in earlier w.rks: the "buildins-in" ol' traditional elemcnts which are developed lurther in a modern rrusital lanquage. The quartet begins with three quotations: a cadential set phrase from i stabat materol' orlando di Lasso, the main thernc of Luclwie van Bcerho'en's oro.fleFuge Iorquartct. Op.133 and a sequencrof the lirur notesD-E llat-C-B (in German D- S C H) - the musical "sisnature" of'Drnitri Shostakovich- in which accordinq to thc cornposer we should recoqnise :l rcvcrcn(e 1or his late, sreat colleaque and compatriot. First the Stabatmater quorarion is cleveloped,in an imitatory fashion in the srnallest spacc. szzllasto, nln tibrata, thus intcntionally rvithout colour. In contrast to this we find violent outbreaks in which both the Beethol'enian intervals (rninor second. rnajor sixth, minor seconcl)and thc Shostakovich monogram are rrorked upon. As a second m.rverncnt rve ljncl an extendcd, turbulent scherzo-like rnovernent. Its main theme is a rnoril $hich constantll'circlesaround itsell and rvhich is ofien heard as a two-part canon. Alonsside this the Gro.fJeFuge and D-S-C- H rnotil.scan be recoqnisecl:the latter beqins broadlr.'and is lbrced to become ever morc tightl\'-knit. The movement rises on several occasions to dramatic climaxes and these become in turn episodcs of irnmobilitv, r'iolentli, contrasted with numbness. As thc last movement Schnittkt- places a second slow secrion (Ps,ranlc). Hc begins n'ith lengthv pathos, but the principle ol contrasr is also active: palc colours,apathetic faltering of progress.Finallv a lastclimax is built out of the sharp rubbinq sound of minor seconds.At the rnoment of clirnax, a lburfold forti.rsimo,the diction suddenlv veers round into clear diatonic lanquase; the set phrase fiom Lasso is transposed into the hiehest position. The lbllorving epikrsuc leads this outbreak back into the realm of simplicitv. C)nce again the n.rotifsol the second rnovernent ancl the D-S-C-H group are quoted, and then the work dies arval'. morendo. Alfred Schnittkes 1. Streichquartetl wurdc vom Borodin-Quartett, dem es qewidrnet ist, 1967 in Leningrad uraufge{'iihrt und stiefl solbrt auf grolles Interesse in der Fachwelt. Es besteht aus drei Sdtzen - Sonata,Canon, Cadenza -, die ohne Llnterbrechung einander folgen. Die Formbezeichnungen sind nicht allzu wortlir:h zu nehmen: die Sonataverzichtet auf die traditionelle Reprise, der Canonberuht auf lieier Imitation, will also den Eindruck des Klangechos ohne starres Festhalten an der cxakten Melodiewiederholung erzielen, und die Cadenzaist als Kollektivkadenz der vier Instrumente aul2ufassen. Obwohl das Werk in frei behandelter Zwolftontechnik geschrieben ist, trigt es doch cieutliche Merkrnale einer tonalen Ordnunq. Ein anderes traditionelles Element ist hier ebenlalls in stark gewandeltern Sinn gebraucht: die Polyphonie tendiert stindig zur Heterophonie, also zu jener Art von Mehrstimmigkeit, bei der ein und dicselbe Melodie in leichten Abwandluneen und kleinen zeitlichen Verschiebungen von allcn Instrumenten gespielt wird. So entsteht eine Mehr- stimrnigkeit, die den Eindruck der Improvisation hervorruft. Der Komponist unterstrcicht die Absicht dieser Wirkung: ,,Die Behandlung der Instrumente und der Formablauf zielen auf den Eindruck einer Schcinimprovisation hin, bei der die ,,Unbestirnmtheit" stindig wlchst, im zweilen Satz clie periodische Metrik sprengt. im dritten zur AbschafTuns des Metrums luhrt und in einer quasi aleatorischen Episode zum Durchbruch und Ausklang kommt. Erst danach scheint ein den ersten Satz erginzender Reprisenvcrsuch moglich. Das 1980 komponierte 2, Streichquartett ist dern Andcnken an die Film- regisseurin Larissa Schepitko gewidnret, die irn Jahr davor bei einem Autounfall todlich vcrungliickt war. Eng mit ihr und ihrem gleichlalls als Filmregisseur rvirkender Mann belicundet. schrieb Schnittkc die Musik zu ihren beiden letzten Filrnen. Einc derselben, Die Erhebung,wurde bei den West-Berliner Filml'estspielen 1977 rnit dern erstcn Preis aussezeichnet und 1978 im dcutschen Fernsehen gezeigt. Allc vier SAtzedrucken in verschiedenerAussaseform Schmerz und Klage aus (Schnittke: ,,Ihr Tc-,dwar fur mich wie fr-iralle, die sic kannten, ein schwcrcr Schlag"). Dcr kurzc Einlcitunessatz (A-B-A-Cc,dctta) beinhaltet - namentlich im 6 Dialos Cello/Violine des Mitteltcils - clie individuelle Betrolfenhcit. Dic in rascher Akkordbrechung vorbeistrcitncnclen Haupttcile cles 2. Satzes vermittcln eine chorische Wirkung. Diesc kollcktive Klage wird von clrei satz- rrnrl spieltechnischunterschiedlichen F.pisoclcn(hastige polvphone Entwicklunqcn/- dichtes Trillergervebe/dissonant-\'erspannterKulminationsteil) gegliedert. ehc cs zu eincr Rerniniszenz (Trillercpist.rde uncl Codctta cies 1. Satzes) untl zur ab- schliel\endenWiederholung clesArpcggio-Haupttcils (mit nochrnalseingeluqtcr Codetta) kornmt. Der 3. Satz ist uie vorn Schmerzvcrsteinert. Irn auflerstclichtcn Satzqen'ebe(allc Instrumente zn'cistirnrnig)schlingt sich der Cantus in leder Stirnme um eincn Zentralton. Dieses Larnento stcigert sich zu'eimal: zucrst ln einem Ausbruch der beiden Violinen. dann in mehreren von Fragmcnten des 2. Satzcs durchbrochencn. harten Akkorclschiagen des Quartetts. Rczitativisch. rvre aus dem Nichts.