Classical Music | Music for Quartet

Recorded on 10/01/1999, uploaded on 03/31/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

TCHAIKOVSKY STRING QUARTETS NOS. 1 & 3

by Andrea Lamoreaux

The frequency with which we hear the music of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky - in concert and on recordings - is the subject of much com­mentary. Such comments often rise to the sta­tus of complaints: a concert-goer exclaiming, "The Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto AGAIN?", or a CD reviewer questioning the need for yet another recording of the Symphony No. 5, for example. Of course, Tchaikovsky's mature symphonic masterpieces are among the most beautifully melodic and richly harmonized works in all the classical repertory; so they deserve to be played with great frequency. But there is another "Tchaikovsky" whose music one could never claim is overplayed.

In his relatively short lifetime of 53 years (1840-1893), Tchaikovsky excelled at all the established musical genres of the 19th century - sympho­ny, concerto, tone poem, opera, ballet, choral music, chamber music, solo piano, and song. Yet there is much that we rarely get to hear. For example, among his eleven full-length operas, only two are widely produced outside of Rus­sia: Yevgeny Onegin and The Queen of Spades. And even the latter work, a musico-dramatic masterpiece by any standard, is still something of a novelty. (Lyric Opera of Chicago, one of the world's major companies, presented it for the first time in the fall of 2000.)

The story is much the same with Tchaikovsky's piano music, choral works, and songs. Though all are represented on recordings, they could enrich and vary concert programs and recitals to a much greater extent than they currently do. The Tchaikovsky chamber works heard most often are his Piano Trio in A Minor and the sextet subtitled Souvenir de Florence (the latter reflecting Tchaikovsky's love for Italy along with his skill for creating lush string sonority). Consid­erably less familiar are the three works he wrote in the more common chamber conformation of the string quartet. With this CD the Vermeer Quartet joins a relative handful of ensembles that have recorded the entire set. (Quartet No. 2 is paired with Souvenir de Florence on Cedille Records CDR 90000 017.)

Unlike many great musicians, Tchaikovsky was not a child prodigy. Up to his early twenties he expected to take up a civil-service career. Fortu­nately, he found his calling when he began taking classes at the new music school Anton Rubin­stein founded in St. Petersburg. After leaving the St. Petersburg Conservatory, he embarked on a three-fold career that involved teaching at the even newer conservatory of Moscow, writing music criticism, and composing. His string quar­tets all date from what might be called his first creative period: the late 1860s through early Seventies. Prominent pieces from those years include Romeo and Juliet, the first three sympho­nies, the B-Flat Minor Piano Concerto, and his first ballet, Swan Lake.

The works from this period were, for the most part, successful. They did not provide immediate financial security, however. Tchaikovsky's life as a fulltime composer of independent means would not begin until 1876. That's when Nadezhda von Meck, a wealthy, music-loving widow, took particular interest in The Tempest, a Shakespear­ean fantasy that followed Romeo and Juliet. The stipend she granted Tchaikovsky freed him from money worries and also led to an extraordinary exchange of letters in which the composer shared thoughts about his craft. This extract from a letter of March 1878 offers some reveal­ing comments:

You ask how I manage my instrumentation. I never compose in the abstract; that is to say, the musical thought never appears otherwise than in a suitable external form. In this way I invent the musical idea and the instrumentation simul­taneously. Thus I thought out the scherzo of [the Fourth Symphony] at the moment of its compo­sition - exactly as you heard it. It is inconceiv­able except as pizzicato. Were it played with the bow, it would lose all its charm and be a mere body without a soul.

As regards the Russian element in my works, I may tell you that not infrequently I begin a composition with the intention of introducing some folk melody into it. Sometimes it comes of its own accord, unbidden . . . As to this national element in my work, its affinity with the folk­songs in some of my melodies and harmonies comes from my having spent my childhood in the country and, from my earliest years, having been filled with the characteristic beauty of our Russian folk music. I am passionately fond of the national element in all its varied expressions. In short, I am Russian in the fullest sense of the word. (Composers on Music, Josiah Fisk, editor, Northwestern University Press, Boston, 1997)

Tchaikovsky's cordial but arm's-length relation­ship with Mme. von Meck (they never met) was still in the future in 1871, when Tchaikovsky decided to supplement his modest income from teaching and journalism by staging a con­cert of his own works in Moscow. This first-ever all-Tchaikovsky program featured some piano works, a group of songs, and a brand-new string quartet. The pianist was Nikolai Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky's mentor at the Moscow Conserva­tory. The string players were members of the Russian Musical Society, led by another Moscow faculty member, eight years Tchaikovsky's senior: violinist Ferdinand Laub.

Newspaper critic Herman Laroche raved, "Tchaikovsky's compositions revealed a rich and sympathetic talent. The String Quartet was dis­tinguished by the same delightfully succulent melodies, beautifully and interestingly harmo­nized, the same mobility of tone - so foreign to the commonplace - the same . . . softness, to which we have become accustomed in this gifted composer."

Those "rich melodies" appear from the outset of Tchaikovsky's String Quartet No. 1 in D major, Op. 11. The first movement, marked Moderato e semplice, is a bit slower than most Classical-Romantic opening movements. Two themes, the second announced by the viola, intertwine and contrast throughout, accentu­ated by syncopated rhythms.

The second movement is an exception to the general observation that Tchaikovsky's cham­ber music is not too well known. This is the famous Andante Cantabile that has been rear­ranged countless ways, and is probably one of the composer's best-known pieces - except in its original form. It reflects the love of Rus­sian folk music about which he wrote to Mme. von Meck. The main theme comes from a tune called "Vanya sat on the divan and smoked a pipe of tobacco" (or, in another translation, "Vanya one night sat sadly on the divan, a glass of rum in his hand, to drown his sorrow and forget tomorrow"). He heard and transcribed this tune while at his favorite country retreat, a family estate called Kamenka. All other themes in the quartet are the composer's own, though some may also have been influenced by his affection for folksong. Like his Bohemian con­temporary, Antonin Dvořák, Tchaikovsky was usually not inclined toward direct quotations of folksongs; he preferred instead to compose new melodies that recall folk music without precisely emulating it.

The shortest movement of the D major Quar­tet is an intense and lively Scherzo. The Finale again reveals Tchaikovsky's love for folk music. Each of its two main themes is reminiscent of folksong melodies. As with the first movement, Tchaikovsky spotlights the viola by having it introduce the second theme.

The concert that introduced the Quartet No. 1 was an unqualified success and gave the emerg­ing composer some much-needed recognition. A touch of prestige was added by the atten­dance of Ivan Turgenev, the prominent 19th-century Russian novelist. Another acclaimed novelist of the day also plays a part in the First Quartet's history: Leo Tolstoy is said to have burst into tears when he first heard the Andante Cantabile. A thoroughly Romantic-era reaction, perhaps, but also a testament to the power of Tchaikovsky's melodic gifts.

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Cedille Records is the recording label of The Chicago Classical Recording Foundation, a publicly-supported, not-for-profit, organization devoted to promoting the finest musicians, ensembles, and composers in the Chicago area by producing and releasing their efforts on audiophile-quality recordings. The recordings and their promotion are designed to stimulate interest in these performers and composers and bring their artistry to a wider audience. Cedille Records is also dedicated to promoting interest in neglected areas of the classical repertory by presenting masterpieces that have been overlooked by other recording companies.