BEETHOVEN: PIANO QUARTET IN E-FLAT MAJOR
Transcript of BEETHOVEN: PIANO QUARTET IN E-FLAT MAJOR
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SCHUBERT: THE TROUT QUINTET
BEETHOVEN: PIANO QUARTET IN E-FLAT MAJOR
JOSEPH R01SMAN, BORIS KROYT, M1SCHA SCHNEIDER
OF THE BUDAPEST STRING OUARTET ———■^^^"ASSISTMC MlfS——
MIECZYSLAW HORSZOWSKI.PIAHIST IUUUS LEVINE.BASS1ST
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SCHUBERT: Quintet in A Major for Piano and Strings, Op. 114 (“Trout")
BEETHOVEN: Quartet in E-Flat Major for Piano and Strings, Op. 16 Produced by Thomas Z. Shepard
Neither Haydn, Mozart nor Beethoven ever wrote a ' piano
quintet"—that is, a composition for piano and string quartet.
Schubert, in the Trout Quintet, came close to writing the first
great piano quintet. But since the Trout is unorthodox in its
instrumentation—employing a double bass and dropping the
second violin—the honor was reserved for Robert Schumann.
After Schumann, Brahms, Dvorak and Franck contributed
grandly to the genre. Schubert's Trout is quite separate from
this series in a deeper sense than its choice of instruments.
Whereas they are often symphonic in approach and make use
of the rather large chamber ensemble for weight and for the
contrast of piano and strings, Schubert's principal concern
is with color; each instrument is an obbligato voice, singing
its own song with its own very distinctive timbre. Despite the
bravura piano part, one is always delightedly aware of the
cello or violin or double bass making its own distinct and
independent contribution. Here, if ever, is a society of equals,
cooperating to produce some of the most ravishingly light¬
hearted music ever conceived.
Schubert was lighthearted when he wrote the work in the
^summer of 1819. At twenty-two, he was already a master with
A an enormous body of compositions to his credit. He and his
friend Johann Vogl, the remarkable baritone who gave the
first performances of many of Schubert's songs, were visiting
the picturesque tovyn of Steyr, some ninety miles to the west
of Vienna. There Schubert enjoyed the hospitality qf Sylvester 1^
Paumgartner, a music enthusiast and amateur cellist, and preV
sumably promised to write a work for him, one containing
prominent cello part. The cello does indeed have wonderful
things to do in the Trout—which was first performed in Paum-
gartner's drawing room in the winter of 1819-20—bi||mot at
the expense of the other instruments. Schubert, who presided
at the piano, gave himself plenty to do and provided hand¬
somely for the other instrumentalists as well. The only con¬
cession to Paumgartner was the inclusion of the double bass
in the ensemble, thus freeing the cellist from the task of
providing the bass foundation and allowing him to
freely in the songful upper registers of his instrument. It is
worth noting, however, that the use of the double bass in
chamber ensembles was not uncommon in Schubert's day,
and he had distinguished precedent in the septets of Beethoven
and Hummel and a quintet by Hummel for the
bination of instruments as his own.
The first movement. Allegro vivace, brims over with melody
—there are three distinct themes and a codetta as distinctive
as any of them. The first theme proper is preceded by some
twenty-five bars of what might be called "introduction," al¬
though they are in tempo and contain, right from the first bar
(the up-turning arpeggio in the piano), important thematic
material. There is no doubt when Schubert really gets under
way, however; we hear this lovely song from the violin:
Stereo—MS 6473 Members of the Budapest String Quartet
(Joseph Roisman, Violin; Boris Kroytf Viola; Mischa Schneider, Cello)
Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Piano
Julius Levine, Double Bass
codetta, with the piano speeding along in sixteenth-note oc¬
taves at the bright top of its register while the strings interject
a syncopated dotted figure which turns into a kind of minia¬
ture trumpet call as the section draws to a close. Having loaded
us with riches in the exposition, Schubert is wisely frugal in
the development, confining himself almost exclusively to the
rather gray introductory material. But all the glorious tunes
return, in proper sequence, in the recapitulation—"nothing is
more welcome than a second bite at these irresistible cherries,
as one commentator put it.
The Andante is almost as richly endowed. In F major the
piano sings a long melody of beatific innocence, each of its
two halves repeated by the strings. Such simple devices as
trills and decorative sextuplets serve to enhance this tune.
a more intense F-sharp minor and piano and strings prepare the way for a new mel¬
ody, harmonized in thirds and sixths by the viola and cello.
This theme anticipates, by some ten years, the refrain of
Schubert's own well-known "Serenade." One more theme may
be noted, a dotted figure followed by descending sextuplets,
which issues at last in a brief but exquisite coda tune beginning thus:
For bountiful measure, Schubert adds a fifth movement, thus emphasizing the festive and divertimento-like character of the quintet. This finale. Allegro giusto, is neither sonata- form nor rondo but something between the two. Its deliciously indolent first subject and lively second subject (actually two themes played simultaneously by strings and piano) are thoroughly discussed during the course of the movement, but not in an orthodox development section. "If Schubert takes the lazy way out," remarks William Mann, we may remem¬ ber that he was on holiday, and that the holiday relaxation of the Trout Quintet has always been its most engaging fea¬ ture, the inspiration of some of Schubert's most generously captivating melodies.
//
//
Then, still quietly, the key shifts to
//
When he was a lad of fifteen, Beethoven wrote three piano
quartets (1785). They are possibly the earliest examples of the
form, since Mozart's two piano quartets date from a little
later. He never directly returned to this type of composition
again, finding it more satisfactory to remove the viola and
compose piano trios, which allow for a more dramatic con-
w| p; pi ... * m trast of timbres, spotlighting, as it were, the individual players.
^ Y • •• A % M m The Piano Quartet, Op. 16, recorded here, is an arrangement After this the entire Andante is repeated in new keyis but of the Quintet for Piano and Woodwinds, which bears the
essentially the same instrumental groupings. same jopus number and is in the same key. Beethoven arranged
A Beethoven scherzo, marked Presto, ensues. The vigorous a number of his works for other combinations. He turned the
yet simple rhythm (an almost unvarying three quarter notes Wind Octqt and the Piano Trio, Op. 1, No. 3 into string quin-
to the bar) contrasts with the preceding movements and the tets; he made a string quartet out of the Piano Sonata, Op. 14,
one to follow. The trio features threefold antiphony—we hear No. 1; he made his own two piano arrangement of the Grosse first the two upper strings, then t he piano thenTh%lwo lower Fuge; he jither arranged or authorized the arrangement of
strings. This, too, is a procedure favored by Beethoven. the String Frio, Op. 8 as a sonata ("notturno") for viola and
Now comes the famous movement that gives this quintet piano. And there are other examples, some of them spurious,
its name—variations on Schubert's song, "The Irout." A. J. B, All this re-arranging was done in order to accommodate dif-
Hutchings remarked about this movement, "Schoolboys love ferent groups of players in an age when amateur musicians
the variations in which the tune can always be heard with were much more plentiful than they are today. The Piano
such slight but delicious alteration, and old boys who do not Quartet, Op. 16, undoubtedly came into existence because
love them are advancing in sin as well as in years." The orig- string players were more plentiful than expert wind players,
inal song has a marvelous accompaniment in which the piano There is an amusing story connected with a performance of
describes the trout flashing through the water, but Schubert the original Quintet for Piano and Winds, in the year of its
(we mistakenly think) only interested in the melody composition, 1797. Beethoven, playing the piano part, took
sung by the voice. This melody, played (Andantino) by the advantage of a fermata in the last movement to improvise a
strings alone, serves as the theme of the variations: cadenza of large proportions. Ries, Beethoven's early biog¬
rapher, writes that "It was comical to see those gentlemen
waiting expectantly, ready every moment to go on, continually
lifting their instruments to their lips, and then quietly putting
them down again. At last Beethoven was satisfied and dropped
into the Rondo. The audience was delighted.
The anecdote gives the key to the work, which is light¬
hearted and entertaining. Beethoven the Liberator of Music
is nowhere discernible; Beethoven the enormously talented
protege of Joseph Haydn and inheritor of the eighteenth
century classical tradition is everywhere apparent. The first
movement begins with an extended slow introduction (Grave), which is a standard feature of Haydn's last symphonies, and
continues with a graceful and delicate Allegro ma non troppo in impeccable sonata form. The slow movement. Andante cantabile, is closer to Mozart than to Haydn, with its long-
breathed theme which goes through a process of continuous,
exfoliating variation, Beethoven's own characteristically pawky
humor peeps out in the Rondo finale, but it is kept well within
the bounds of eighteenth century decorum.
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Variation 1: the piano takes over the tune, the strings buoying
it up with broken triads and high trills. Variation 2: lower
strings and piano alternate in the theme against a graceful
running counterpoint in the violin. Variation 3: the melody is
carried by double bass and cello while the piano rushes along
vigorous thirty-second notes. Variation 4: a mock-heroic
variation beginning in stormy D minor but changing to
serene and contrapuntal F major in its second half.
Variation 5: a meltingly lovely variant for Herr Paumgartner'
cello, even more beautiful than the original tune. But the
greatest delight of all is the final variation, or coda, which is
in fact the original song, pure and simple, with the strings
taking the part of the voice and the piano playing the 'til-
suppressed accompaniment as the trout once more leaps and frolics through the water.
//
in The arpeggio figure enhances the pauses in this melody. The
second theme is announced by the cello. With the violin echo¬
ing it an octave and a half above:
a more
s
now The third theme is easily recognized, since it is given out in
full by the unaccompanied piano. Then follows the irresistible
DAVID JOHNSON
clnF i crmiornr n.„WTtT IKI , ^ , TH£ SELECTIONS—PUBLIC DOMAIN—ARE FOLLOWED BY THEIR TIMINGS S8,DEJ. SCHUBERT: QUINTET IN A MAJOR FOR PIANO AND STRINGS, Op. 114(“Trout”) (Beginning)
II—Andante........... III— Scherzo...’ ‘ ’ ’ ’ * ‘ ’‘‘ ‘ .... IV— Theme and Variations.\ ....’8:15
SIDE !i V—Finale
BEETHOVEN: QUARTET IN E-FLAT MAJOR FOR PIANO AND STRINGS, Op. 16 I—Grave; Allegro ma non troppo.
II—Andante cantabile. ...v. Rondo: Allegro ma non troppo...
SCHUBERT: QUINTET IN A MAJOR FOR PIANO AND STRINGS, Op. 114 (“Trout”) (Conclusion) 6:42
10:49 .7:37 .6:04 III
29:35
__ 31:27
MASTERWORKS". [5J MARCAS REG. PRINTED IN U S A. COVER PAINTING BY BERNARD KRIGSTEIN
© COLUMBIA RECORDS 1963/ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ® "COLUMBIA 3
SCHUBERT:
/ QUINTET IN A MAJOR FOR \
PIANO AND STRINGS, \
/ Op. 114 (“Trout”) (Beginning)
'MEMBERS OF THE BUDAPEST STRING QUART!
Side ( XSM 59586
MS 6473 NONBREAKABLE
^STERWOff*s
QUINTET IN A MAJOR FOR
PIANO AND STRINGS,
Op. 114 (“Trout")(Conclusion)
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BEETHOVEN: QUARTET IN E-FLAT MAJOR FOR PIANO AND STRINGS, Op. 16
Joseph Rois^man^V^mst, ^ojlsKroyL
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