MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             

REVIEW


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


Buy through MusicWeb
for £12 postage paid World-wide.

Musicweb Purchase button

 

Alexander ZEMLINSKY (1871-1942)
String Quartet No. 3 Op. 19 (1923) [21:50]
String Quartet No. 4, Op. 25 (1936) [23:31]
Johanna MÜLLER-HERMANN (1868-1941)
String Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 6 (1908) [22:10]
Artis Quartett Wien
rec. Concert Hall, Nimbus Foundation, 23-26 March 1998. Stereo. DDD
NIMBUS NI 5604 [67:50]

Experience Classicsonline


 
As with volume 1 of the Artis Quartet’s survey of Zemlinsky, volume two charts times of turmoil and change. His 3rd and 4th Quartets are both considerably more post-Romantic than his 1st or 2nd, and even the stylistic progression between them is remarkable. Zemlinsky was not a particularly prodigious composer, and these are both mature works, despite their seemingly low opus numbers. And both deal with issues of grief and death.
 
The death in the case of the 3rd Quartet was of the composer’s sister, Mathilde. The music takes on that particularly Viennese neurosis through rapid changes of pace and focus. It’s apparently conventional four-movement structure hides a more complex micro-level of more chaotic ordering. The textures are often reduced to just a single instrument, but even then the music retains an emotional intensity. As in the earlier quartets, glissandos make regular appearances, and seem ill-matched to the otherwise very precise contrapuntal textures. And for all the chopping and changing, the music maintains a stylistic distance from the Second Viennese School. There is nothing here of Schoenberg’s klangfarbe or Webern’s concision.
 
Alban Berg is the closest of the serialists to this music, so it is fitting that the 4th Quartet was written in his memory. Unlike the 3rd, the 4th has a freer six-movement structure, a conscious reference no doubt to the Lyric Suite. If there is any further homage to Berg in this music, it is through the reliance on melodic flow, but stylistically that is a tenuous link. Texturally, this is the barest of Zemlinsky’s quartets. As with the 3rd, much of the music involves individual players of duets. But the difference here is that you feel the solitude. The work has all the rhythmic and melodic variety of Zemlinsky’s earlier Romanticism, but it is clearly music of a later and more desperate time.
 
If Johanna Müller-Hermann’s 6th Quartet sounds naive in comparison, it is not necessarily because it is the work of a lesser talent, nor that it was written by a woman (perish the thought), but rather that it was written in 1908, before the artistic and political turmoils that colour Zemlinsky’s later work. Müller-Hermann was a pupil of Zemlinsky, and like him, she was a composer who put melody first. And what magnificent melodies they are! You may think of Elgar or possibly Delius when listening to this, the way that the music conforms to the precepts of the form is closer, perhaps, to the former composer. But this is music from well within the Austro-German tradition. The fact that it can conform to the requirements of that tradition without displaying any particular angst about it is little short of a miracle. Perhaps this is where the composer’s gender comes into play. This is the premiere recording of the work; it is quite a find.
 
The Artis Quartet again do Zemlinsky proud, and extend their passionate but precise artistry to the music of his pupil. There is a certain austerity to their playing, and if anything this is even more appropriate to Zemlinsky’s later quartets than his earlier. This isn’t Brahms after all, and the Artis Quartet locate the music squarely in the 20th century. They achieve an impressive feat, especially in the Müller-Hermann, of playing in a strict, disciplined style – narrow vibrato, and little rubato – and yet creating a sound world that is both passionate and involving. As with volume 1, I have nothing but praise for the sound quality and the packaging. I recommended that disc to adventurous Brahms fans. This one might be more for the Webern/Berg brigade, but anyone with an interest in slightly tangential string quartet repertoire should find much of interest here.
 
Gavin Dixon
 
 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.