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Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20, performed by Borodin Quartet & Fine Arts Quartet.
Felix Mendelssohn's Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20 was composed in the autumn of 1825 (completed on October 15) , when the composer was aged 16. He wrote it as a birthday gift for his friend and violin teacher Eduard Rietz (born October 17, 1802); it was slightly revised in 1832 before the first public performance on 30 January 1836 at the Leipzig Gewandhaus. Conrad Wilson summarizes much of its reception ever since: "Its youthful verve, brilliance and perfection make it one of the miracles of nineteenth-century music." It was followed in 1826 by the Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Structure:
The work comprises four movements:
- Allegro moderato ma con fuoco
- Andante
- Scherzo
- Presto
A typical performance of the work lasts around thirty minutes, with the first movement usually comprising roughly half of this.
The scherzo, later scored for orchestra as a replacement for the minuet in the composer's First Symphony at its premiere, is believed to have been inspired by a section of Goethe's Faust entitled "Walpurgis Night's Dream." Fragments of this movement recur in the finale, as a precursor to the "cyclic" technique employed by later 19th-century composers. The entire work is also notable for its extended use of counterpoint, with the finale, in particular, beginning with an eight-part fugato.
The work has been compared to Louis Spohr's 1823 Double Quartet No.1, Op. 65 in D minor.
Instrumentation:
The original score is for a double string quartet with 4 violins and pairs of violas and cellos. Mendelssohn instructed in the public score, "This Octet must be played by all the instruments in symphonic orchestral style. Pianos and fortes must be strictly observed and more strongly emphasized than is usual in pieces of this character."
Orchestrations have been made using multiple players for each part; although a version edited by Arturo Toscanini exists that employs double basses, for performance with the NBC Symphony Orchestra in 1947.
The composer also arranged the piece as a piano duet.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octet_(Mendelssohn)
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Borodin Quartet
The Borodin Quartet is a string quartet that was founded in 1945 in the former Soviet Union. It is one of the world's longest lasting string quartets, marking its 60th anniversary season in 2005.
The quartet was one of the Soviet Union's best-known in the West during the Cold War era, through concert performances in the United States and Europe and through distribution of their recordings.
The quartet had a close relationship with composer Dmitri Shostakovich, who personally consulted with them on each of his quartets. They also performed with the pianist Sviatoslav Richter on many occasions. They have recorded all of Shostakovich's string quartets as well as all of Beethoven's quartets. Their many recordings include works by a wide range of composers on the Melodiya, Teldec, Virgin Records, Chandos Records labels.
The original Borodin quartet's sound was characterised by an almost symphonic volume and a highly developed ability to phrase whilst maintaining group cohesion.[citation needed] Although it has seen many changes in personnel over its life span, all members of the quartet have been graduates of the Moscow Conservatory.
History:
The quartet was formed as the Moscow Conservatoire Quartet with Mstislav Rostropovich on cello, Rostislav Dubinsky and Nina Barshai on first and second violins and Rudolf Barshai on viola, all members of a class taken by Mikhail Terian, the viola player of the Comitas Quartet. Originally Mstislav Rostropovich was the cellist but he withdrew after a few weeks in favour of Berlinsky.
The quartet first met Dmitri Shostakovich in 1946 and became his interpreter. In due course they became known for their performances of all the quartets in the Shostakovich quartet canon (eventually numbering 15 quartets) at concert halls around the world.
As one of the most revered groups during the Communist era, the quartet performed at the funerals of both Joseph Stalin and Sergei Prokofiev, who both died on the same day in 1953.
In 1955 the quartet was renamed after Alexander Borodin, one of the founders of Russian chamber music.
In the Soviet era their concert engagements and repertoire were directed by the state concert organisation, Gosconcert on the basis of maximum revenue. This was irksome to the performers and to Western concert organisers.
After 20 years with the same line-up, difficult times followed in the 1970s: Dubinsky defected to the West, and the second violinist, Yaroslav Alexandrov, retired due to ill-health. Having recruited replacements, Berlinsky insisted that the ensemble spend two years out of sight until the Borodin sound had been fully recreated.
In his 1989 book, Stormy Applause, Dubinsky suggested disharmony, power struggles and betrayal to the authorities by Berlinsky, who admitted being a Communist Party member. Berlinsky, for his part, dismissed the book as being “full of half truths”. Whatever the truth of such stories, Berlinsky's record of serving for 62 years in one of the world's most renowned string quartets was a singular achievement, possibly unique in the history of the genre.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borodin_Quartet
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