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Name: yehuda salzberg
E-mail:
Date: Wednesday, August 15, 2001 at 06:35:19
Text: I would like to comment on Alex's note regarding the "Death
and the Maiden" quartet. First of all, I disagree that it is an
underappreciated piece - actually, this piece receives numerous
performances and has been recorded by every notable quartet .
I tend to agree with Alex about the mediocrity of the third
movement. However, I consider the last movement one of Schubert's
most intelligent and ahead-of-its-time movements. In many ways this
is the exact opposite of what I got used to get from Schubert. Here
he puts the emphasis on harmony and structural twists rather than
on simple, catchy melodies. In fact, I recall the first time I
heard this movement , I thought the first theme to be pretty
annoying. By the third listening I completely fell in love with it.
Schubert just didn't stop to surprise me. Every time I thought I
can guess the next move, he changed direction - major suddenly
becomes minor, hectic playing stops unexpectedly, waiting seconds
before resuming in a new mood, new themes emerge and old ones
transform - in short, simply fascinating. I enjoy this movement
anew each time I hear it and find it most adequate and highly
rewarding!
Name: Alex McLeod
E-mail:
Date: Monday, June 4, 2001 at 01:28:28
Text: One of the most evocative pieces ever written, the "Death and
the Maiden" quartet, is sadly undernourished. In a fitting
reflection of its composer, the quartet was unappreciated in its
own time, and only received a single private preformance. It is
understandable that the piece, unbalanced as it is, with an
extremely weak third and a barely adequate fourth movement is not
quite a standard, but anyone who has heard the breathtakingly
dramatic first movement and the achingly beautiful variations must
agree that this gem of a quartet deserves better than it gets.
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