Tchaikovsky: String Quartets Nos. 1-3
Tchaikovsky:
- String Quartet No. 1 in D major, Op. 11
- String Quartet No. 2 in F major, Op. 22
- String Quartet No. 3 in E flat minor, Op. 30
- Souvenir de Florence, Op. 70
Performed by the IPO Richter String Quartet
The performers are members of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra:
Ilya Konovalov, violin / Shmuel Glaser, violin
Dmitry Ratush, viola / Felix Nemirovsky, cello
“It is a terrible irony” wrote Vladimir Ashkenazy, “that so much suffering and torment bequeathed us so much wonderful music”. How true that is! Tchaikovsky lived at a time when sexual orientation represented a huge issue. In addition, getting emotional help was likely also very difficult for a composer living in Russia at that time. It is a small wonder that these quartets frequently have more than one slow movement in which the composer expresses his sadness and emotional upheavals.
An example is Tchaikovsky’s Quartet #3, which has a movement called “Andante funebre e doloroso”
Following the death of the violinist who had led the first performances of his two previous quartets, Tchaikovsky experienced a creative surge that led to the third quartet that I mentioned above. After an enthusiastic reception to a performance in Moscow, Tchaikovsky said: “I think I am all written-out … I’ve begun to repeat myself and can’t come up with anything new”.
This audio CD will be issued April 10, 2012
Here is the well-known Andante Cantabile movement from Tchaikovsky String Quartet No.1 in D – beautifully performed by the Borodin Quartet
Tags: Tchaikovsky, string quartets, IPO Richter String Quartet