Thank you for coming to this HKU MUSE event. To ensure that everyone enjoys the music, please switch off your mobile phones and any other sound and light emitting devices before the performance. Unauthorised photography and audio/video recordings in the Hall are prohibited. Enjoy the concert and come again.
Presented by
Supported by
A CHAMBER FEAST BY BELCEA × ÉBÈNE
QUATUOR ÉBÈNE
4 APR 2025 │ FRI │ 8PM
BELCEA QUARTET
5 APR 2025 │ SAT │ 8PM
Music in Words: BELCEA × ÉBÈNE
Moderated by Prof. Daniel Chua
6 APR 2025 │ SUN │ 1:15PM
QUATUOR DUPLEX
Belcea Quartet × Quatuor Ébène
6 APR 2025 │ SUN │ 3PM
4 APR 2025 │ FRI │ 8PM
Grand Hall, The University of Hong Kong
QUATUOR ÉBÈNE
Pierre Colombet, violin | Gabriel Le Magadure, violin
Marie Chilemme, viola | Yuya Okamoto, cello
BEETHOVEN String Quartet No. 1 in F major, Op. 18, No. 1
Allegro con brio
Adagio affettuoso ed appassionato
Scherzo. Allegro molto – Trio
Allegro
RAPHAËL
MERLIN
Tetrhappy: String Quartet (Asia Premiere)
Co-commissioned by Radio France, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Wigmore Hall London, MUSE Concert Series at The University of Hong Kong, Philharmonique de Namur – Grande Manège, Festival Internactional de Música da Póvoa de Varzim, and Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ.
- INTERMISSION -
BEETHOVEN String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat major, Op. 130 with Grosse Fuge, Op. 133
Adagio ma non troppo – Allegro
Presto
Andante con moto, ma non troppo. Poco scherzoso
Alla danza tedesca. Allegro assai
Cavatina. Adagio molto espressivo Grosse Fuge
(Programme Notes on P. 14-17)
5 APR 2025 │ SAT │ 8PM
Grand Hall, The University of Hong Kong
BELCEA QUARTET
Corina Belcea, violin | Suyeon Kang, violin
Krzysztof Chorzelski, viola | Antoine Lederlin, cello
SCHOENBERG
String Quartet No. 1 in D minor, Op. 7
Nicht zu rasch
Kräftig (nicht zu rasch)
Mässig, langsame Viertel
Mässig, heiter
- INTERMISSION -
BEETHOVEN
String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 131
Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo
Allegro molto vivace
Allegro moderato
Andante ma non troppo e molto cantabile
Presto
Adagio quasi un poco andante
Allegro
(Programme Notes on P. 18-20)
6 APR 2025 │ SUN │ 1:15PM
Rehearsal Room, The University of Hong Kong
Music in Words: BELCEA × ÉBÈNE
Speakers: Moderator:
Krzysztof Chorzelski (Belcea Quartet)
Gabriel Le Magadure (Quatuor Ébène)
Prof. Daniel Chua Chair Professor of Music, HKU
The Belcea Quartet and Quatuor Ébène—two of today's most acclaimed string quartets, bound by mutual admiration and friendship—embarked on their long-anticipated octet tour in 2024, showcasing Mendelssohn's and Enescu's masterful octets to audiences worldwide. In this 'Music in Words' session, violist Krzysztof Chorzelski from the Belcea Quartet and violinist Gabriel Le Magadure from Quatuor Ébène offer insights into their approach to chamber music, both as quartets and as a unified octet.
Details:
6 APR 2025 │ SUN │ 3PM
Grand Hall, The University of Hong Kong
QUATUOR DUPLEX
Belcea Quartet × Quatuor Ébène
MENDELSSOHN
Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20
Allegro moderato, ma con fuoco
Andante
Scherzo. Allegro leggierissimo
Presto
- INTERMISSION -
ENESCU
Octet in C major, Op. 7
Très modéré
Très fougueux
Lentement
Mouvement de Valse bien rythmée
(Programme Notes on P. 21-23)
BIOGRAPHIES
QUATUOR ÉBÈNE
Pierre Colombet, violin │ Gabriel Le Magadure, violin
Marie Chilemme, viola │ Yuya Okamoto, cello
Attending a concert by the Quatuor Ébène is a musical and sensual happening. In the past two decades the Quartet has set standards by making familiar repertoire accessible in new ways beyond perfection, and by constantly seeking the exchange with the audience. Yuya Okamoto, who joined the Quartet's esteemed ranks in spring 2024, has added a new dimension.
After studies with the Quatuor Ysaÿe in Paris as well as with Gábor Takács, Eberhard Feltz and György Kurtág, the unprecedented and outstanding success at the 2004 ARD Music Competition followed, marking the beginning of the Quatuor Ébène's rise to fame, which resulted in numerous other prizes and awards: In 2005, for example, the Quartet was awarded the Belmont Prize of the Forberg-Schneider Foundation; in 2007 it was prize winner of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust, and in 2019 as the first ensemble ever it was honored with the Frankfurt Music Prize.
In addition to the traditional repertoire, the Quartet also dives into other styles ("A String Quartet that can easily morph into a jazz band" New York Times, 2009). What began in 1999 as a distraction in the university's practice rooms improvising on jazz standards & pop songs has become a trademark of Quatuor Ébène. To date, the
Quartet has released three albums in these genres, Fiction (2010), Brazil (2014), and Eternal Stories (2017). In June 2024, the Quartet brought Waves, a new project with electronic sound artist Xavier Tribolet, to the stage. The free approach to various styles creates a tension that is beneficial to every aspect of their artistic work. The complexity of their oeuvre has been greeted enthusiastically by audiences and critics.
Quatuor Ébène's albums, with recordings of Bartók, Beethoven, Debussy, Haydn, Fauré, and the Mendelssohn siblings, have received numerous awards, including Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine, and the Midem Classic Award. In 2015 and 2016 the musicians dedicated themselves to the theme Lied. They participated in the album Green (Mélodies françaises) by Philippe Jaroussky and released a Schubert album with Matthias Goerne (arrangements for string quartet, baritone, and double bass, by Raphaël Merlin) and the Schubert String Quintet with Gautier Capuçon. Together with Antoine Tamestit, Quatuor Ébène recorded the Mozart String Quintets K. 515 and K. 516, which were released in the spring of 2023. The album has received accolades such as Choc Classica, Diapason d'Or, and Gramophone of the month.
First and foremost is the recording of Beethoven's 16 String Quartets, for which the quartet travelled across six continents between May 2019 and January 2020. With this complete recording, the four celebrated their 20 th stage anniversary, which they additionally crowned with performances of the complete String Quartet cycle in major European venues such as the Philharmonie de Paris or the Alte Oper Frankfurt. Invitations from Carnegie Hall New York, the Verbier Festival, and the Vienna Konzerthaus were also on the agenda.
In January 2021, the Quartet was appointed by the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich to establish a string quartet class as part of the newly founded 'Quatuor Ébène Academy'.
Since the 21/22 season, the Quartet has performed a joint cycle at the Wiener Konzerthaus with the Belcea Quartet and was the ensemble in residence at the Philharmonie Luxembourg in the 23/24 season. As Quatuor en résidence à Radio France, the Quartet will once again perform three times in Paris this season.
Further highlights of the season include appearances at the Salzburg Festival, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Liszt Academy in Budapest, Wigmore Hall London, and the Muziekgebouw Amsterdam. In addition, the Quartet will be touring North and South America and Asia together with their colleagues of the Belcea Quartet, with concerts at the Carnegie Hall in New York, the Teatro Cultura Artística in São Paulo, and the Grand Hall of the Lee Shau Kee Lecture Centre in Hong Kong, among others.
BELCEA QUARTET
Corina Belcea, violin │ Suyeon Kang, violin
Krzysztof Chorzelski, viola │ Antoine Lederlin, cello
Passion, coupled with precision, unheard-of expressivity and pure emotion characterise the concerts of the Belcea Quartet. With the Romanian violinist Corina Belcea, the Korean-Australian Suyeon Kang on second violin, the Polish violist Krzysztof Chorzelski, and the French cellist Antoine Lederlin, four different artistic provenances meet and unite to create unique excellence.
The ensemble's repertoire spans Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven to Bartók, Janáček to Szymanowski. They also continue to introduce new works by current composers to the audience such as Julian Anderson (2024), Guillaume Connesson (2023), Joseph Phibbs (2018), Krzysztof Penderecki (2016), Thomas Larcher (2015), and Mark-Anthony Turnage (2014 & 2010). These commissioned works are created in
association with the Belcea Quartet Trust, the Quartet's own foundation, whose aim is to continually broaden the string quartet literature as well as to support young quartets through concentrated joint coaching sessions. In this way they can also pass on to the next generation the experience they gained as students of the Amadeus and Alban Berg Quartets.
In addition to the complete recordings of the String Quartets by Bartók, Beethoven, Brahms (Diapason d'or de l'année 2016), and Britten, the Quartet's wide-ranging discography includes works by Berg, Dutilleux, Mozart, Schoenberg, Schubert, Shostakovich, Janáček, and Ligeti (among others). In spring 2022, Alpha Classics released the two String Sextets by Brahms performed with Tabea Zimmermann and Jean-Guihen Queyras. Their performances of all Beethoven String Quartets at the Konzerthaus Vienna in 2012 were released on DVD by EuroArts in 2014, followed by the release of a recording of Britten's three String Quartets in 2015.
From 2017 to 2020, the Quartet held the prestigious position of Ensemble in Residence at the Pierre Boulez Hall in Berlin. Since then, they have performed there regularly. In addition, the Belcea Quartet has been part of a shared String Quartet series at the Vienna Konzerthaus since 2010. The Quatuor Ébène has been the partner ensemble in this series since the 21/22 season.
Quartet concerts this season will take the Belcea Quartet to renowned venues such as the Stockholm Konserthus, Wigmore Hall London, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, and the Flagey in Brussels. A special highlight will be the octet tour with the Quatuor Ébène through North and South America, as well as Asia, where they will perform at Carnegie Hall in New York, the Teatro Cultura Artística in São Paulo, and the Grand Hall of the Lee Shau Kee Lecture Centre in Hong Kong, among others.
30 Anniversary th
A Message from the Belcea Quartet
Tonight's programme (5 Apr) is a celebration of our Quartet's 30th anniversary a milestone which we have reached this year.
Beethoven's Op. 131 has always been the crowning glory of our repertoire the piece we identify with the most. In this composition Beethoven reaches the heart of musical expression perhaps more directly than in any other of his quartets. It is cast in a continuously flowing arc on an epic scale, in which all formal constraints are removed to serve the narrative of the music. The result, in our minds, is one of western civilisation's most complete musical statements.
We chose Schoenberg's String Quartet No. 1 to accompany it as we believe it to be a truly worthy companion piece to Beethoven's Op. 131. Beethoven was very clearly Schoenberg's main inspiration in building the gigantic and complex structure of this piece. Written at the beginning of 20th century just as tonality was at a tipping point, about to exhaust itself and give way to new harmonic languages, this quartet is another musical odyssey a journey of struggle and turmoil, at times veering on the brink of chaos and destruction, but one that ultimately 'earns' us its final resolution: a vision of transcendent beauty and peace. This music is very challenging for both the performers and listeners but we are convinced that it is worth the effort it requires.
Beethoven and Schoenberg bring us closer to the essence of who we are: fragile and vulnerable beings trying to make sense of our place in the world. It would be so much more difficult without their music…
PROGRAMME NOTES
4 APR 2025 │ FRI │ 8PM
QUATUOR ÉBÈNE
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
String Quartet No. 1 in F major, Op. 18, No. 1
Allegro con brio
Adagio affettuoso ed appassionato
Scherzo. Allegro molto – Trio
Allegro
Op. 18, No. 1 was the second string quartet Beethoven attempted, written at a time when the composer was in his own words still "learning to write quartets". The work, composed between 1798 and 1800, demonstrates his desire to make a name in a genre that was already well established in the hands of Haydn and Mozart.
Beethoven was meticulous in his preparation for the piece, as the piece was designated to be one of his six quartets presented to Prince Joseph Franz von Lobkowitz of Bohemia, a powerful patron. First, he sent a copy of the manuscript to his violinist friend Carl Amenda a teacher of the children of the late Mozart, and more importantly, an employee of the prince. Next, he initiated a long process to revise the work as his techniques improved. Slowly, the piece evolved into a totally different piece and it became virtually incognisable. And as some in his inner circle began to regard this Quartet as the best among the six, he changed its publishing order, making it No. 1 in the set, despite the fact that it was chronologically the second. Eventually, he would urge Amenda to never show the previous copy to others. Perhaps unknown to Beethoven, the prince was also commissioning the elderly Haydn to compose a series of quartets. It was said that the prince was hoping to pit Beethoven against Haydn in a compositional contest.
The Quartet consists of four movements. The first movement is built mostly on its first theme, an energetic tune that alternates quickly between staccato and legato. The second theme, syncopated and somewhat introverted, remains under-developed throughout the movement; however, it provides recurring anecdotes that fill the movement with constant surprises. The slow second movement, according to Amenda, depicts the farewell of two lovers and was inspired by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Featuring passionate melodic lines played in a reflective tempo, the movement maintains a striking sense of contradiction throughout. The third movement is a lively scherzo, whose quasi-chromatic melody keeps transforming itself as it glides through various tonalities. The finale is a sonata-rondo. Its vigorous first theme, while interacting with the polyphonic second theme in manners typical to the classical sonata form, reappears surprisingly on many occasions therefore creating sonic effects of a rondo.
The Quartet has been featured in the mass media, including the 2015 dark comedy The Lobster
RAPHAËL MERLIN (1982-)
Tetrhappy: String Quartet
Tetrhappy is a collection of free variations in which the members of a string quartet appear as interdependent individuals, subject to the law of the whole: depending on whether they are playing together as a quartet, trio, duo, or solo, the protagonists emerge on stage like actors in their own light, with the present listeners acting as mirrors. Life in a quartet demands revealing oneself to others, both the curse and the blessing of this therapeutic form intertwined with professional life. Inspired by Charles Mingus' Self Portrait in Three Colors, a title that evokes the intimate and immersive experience of the famous 'marriage of four' in the full-time quartet, highlighting the inherent fragility of the ensemble, each variation becomes a new, both precarious and galvanizing search for balance. Subtle allusions to travel, shared experiences, or personality traits are more or less clearly recognised by the performers. As therapy for four, with rich, happy – happy – and playful (giocoso, scherzando) moments, life in the quartet encounters the impossible, the squaring of the circle, tetra-pi. The portmanteau is a tribute to all the quartets of the world who walk this path of commitment and generosity.
When Raphaël Merlin left the Quatuor Ébène in 2023 after 21 years, his three fellow musicians Pierre Colombet, Gabriel Le Magadure, and Marie Chilemme entrusted him with a new work. This gesture of gratitude initially took the form of a symphonic piece, Dankgesang, which was premiered with the Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, inspired by Beethoven's Op. 132, and dedicated to the Quatuor Ébène. The addition of brilliant cellist Yuya Okamoto to the ensemble then led to the composition of Tetrhappy, a commissioned work by Radio France, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Wigmore Hall London, MUSE Concert Series at The University of Hong Kong, Philharmonique de Namur – Grande Manège, Festival Internacional de Música da Póvoa de Varzim, and Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ. Tetrhappy is dedicated to Gabriele Forberg-Schneider.
(Notes from the composer)
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat major, Op. 130 with Grosse Fuge , Op. 133
Adagio ma non troppo – Allegro
Presto
Andante con moto, ma non troppo. Poco scherzoso
Alla danza tedesca. Allegro assai
Cavatina. Adagio molto espressivo
Grosse Fuge
Beethoven's professional life began with extemporisation at the keyboard and ended with string quartets. The last two years of his life were spent mostly on writing string quartets in a style new to himself, incomprehensible to many of his contemporaries, and epoch-making to subsequent generations. Like many visionaries, he was constantly struggling between his artistic vision and public reception. String Quartets Op. 130 and Op. 133, originally one single piece, were symbolic of that struggle during the very last chapter of his life.
Shortly after the premiere of his Symphony No. 9 in May 1824, Beethoven started to work on a series of string quartets that would later be published as Opp. 127, 129, and 130. Those quartets were commissioned by the Russian prince Nikolai Borisovich Golitsyn two years earlier. The present Quartet, being the last of the three, was well received at its premiere except the Grosse Fuge that serves as the finale, which the audience hated. That magnificent fugue, which Stravinsky would regard as "an absolutely contemporary piece of music that will be contemporary forever" a century
later, represented a severe headache for Beethoven. Under constant pressure from his publisher to rewrite, he gave in. In November 1826, he wrote an alternative finale for Op. 130 and published the Grosse Fuge separately as Op. 133. The alternative finale would become his last composition. He fell ill a few weeks later and died in March 1827.
The two quartets were originally one. Together, they consist of six movements. The first movement is in a modified sonata form based on three melodic themes: a semiquaver figuration that serves as the first subject, a short fanfare-like motive that serves as a counter-melody to the first subject, and a tranquil second subject that alternates between long and short groups of notes. Interestingly, a slow fantasy melody in triple time is inserted into various parts of the movement, which are mostly in fast quadruple time. This unusual treatment creates numerous designated interruptions throughout the movement. The second movement is a fast and short scherzo, constructed from a four-note motive that proceeds in downward sequence. The third movement is slow but fluid. Its structure is ternary; however, the presence of two contrasting melodic subjects in its main section creates an impression that the ternary structure is actually a simplified sonata form in disguise. The fourth movement is a German dance in triple time, with both courtly and folk attributes. It was originally intended to be a movement in String Quartet in A minor, Op. 132. The fifth movement is in the manner of an operatic cavatina. In 1977, when phonograph records were launched into space with two American spacecrafts, this song-like movement was among the music chosen for the launch intended for potential extraterrestrials who might be interested in human culture. The original finale, also published separately as Op. 133, is an enormous fugue a sharp contrast to its later substitute, a folksy rondo based on cheerful melodies accompanied by repeated octaves. The precise construction of this Grosse Fuge has attracted multiple interpretations, and it is still a subject of debate after two centuries.
5 APR 2025 │ SAT │ 8PM
BELCEA QUARTET
ARNOLD SCHOENBERG (1874-1951)
String Quartet No. 1 in D minor, Op. 7
Nicht zu rasch
Kräftig (nicht zu rasch)
Mässig, langsame Viertel
Mässig, heiter
Arnold Schoenberg, architect of 12-tone technique and forerunner of atonality, started his career composing tonal works such as String Quartet No. 1 in D minor, Op. 7. The work remains a remarkable musical monument to the composer's personal development and, perhaps more importantly, the struggles between modernism and post-romanticism in the early 20th century.
Completed in 1905, the Quartet represents a milestone in Schoenberg's maturity as a composer. His earlier major compositions the string sextet Verklärte Nacht (1899) and the symphonic poem Pelleas und Melisande (1902-03) rely on descriptive programmes. The present Quartet, in contrast, fabricates an extended structure entirely on abstract forms. This breakthrough brought him a step closer to 12-tone technique, which he would describe in 1921 as "something that will assure the supremacy of German music for the next 100 years".
The work is complex in form, phrasing, and tonality. Even the greatest musical minds of its days did not always find it easy to understand. Gustav Mahler, upon viewing its score, exclaimed, "I have conducted the most difficult scores of Wagner; I have written complicated music myself in scores of up to 30 staves and more; yet here is a score of
not more than four staves, and I am unable to read them". The work's premiere held in the Bösendorfer-Saal in Vienna on 5 February 1907 ended in chaos. Many left the hall early, some even through the emergency exit. Mahler, who was in the audience, tried to stop people from hissing but was unsuccessful.
The Quartet has a dual-function form: four movements are compressed into a single colossal entity, which include a lengthy middle section that resembles the development section of a sonata-allegro movement. The form is not new; previous versions of it can be seen in works such as Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor, published more than half a century earlier, in 1854. Schoenberg's organisation of the movements seems conventional as well: the opening and closing movements are moderately fast and resemble sonata and rondo forms; the second movement is a robust scherzo, and the third a moderately slow movement with two main themes. This manner of organisation is not uncommon in previous compositions such as those by Brahms. What Schoenberg managed to achieve here, however, is an intriguing exploitation of the boundaries of the tonal system through cunning details: sly alterations of textural density, asymmetrical phrasal constructions, among others. In hindsight, later historians tend to conclude late Romantic music as having a tendency to 'stretch' tonality to its limit. If so, the present Quartet presents such a wide stretch that it seems forcing a question on its audience: is tonality still adequate, even with the help of proven forms and techniques?
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 131
Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo
Allegro molto vivace
Allegro moderato
Andante ma non troppo e molto cantabile
Presto
Adagio quasi un poco andante
Allegro
Beethoven's late quartets are among the most controversial music in history. They are complex, even confusing. Admirers like Schumann and Wagner found them epochmaking; condemners like composer-violinist Louis Spohr called them "indecipherable, uncorrected horror". Among those scandalous quartets, Op. 131 was Beethoven's favourite. He remarked that he used "a new approach of contrapuntal writing" in this piece and that it is "less lack of imagination than before". Schumann believed the
work has a "grandeur that no words can express" and that it stands on "the extreme boundaries" of human imagination. Schubert, upon hearing its performance, uttered, "After this, what is left for us to write?"
The work's genesis can be described as incidental. After the premiere of his Symphony No. 9 in May 1824, Beethoven started to compose a series of string quartets commissioned to him two years earlier by the Russian prince Nikolai Borisovich Golitsyn. Those quartets somehow triggered a source of inspiration in him, and he could not stop writing more in the genre. That inability to stop resulted directly in this Quartet. In fact, the composer's sketch strongly suggest that he moved to the present Quartet straight from the fugal finale of Op. 130, the last of his quartets for the prince. For a while, the composer hesitated to stage a performance of the present Quartet, due to its close resemblance to Op. 130's fugal finale, which failed to win public approval.
The Quartet consists of seven movements diverse in mood and in length. The opening movement is a slow fugue in three sections: the first starts with a four-note motive (G♯ , B♯, C♯, A) that appears in turn from the highest voice to the lowest; the second combines a modified version of the opening motive with a new theme featuring descending fournote sequences; the third embellishes the original motive with waves of quavers from multiple voices. The movement is tonally unstable, as if it is incapable of stopping from sliding through the next key. Wagner simply called it "the most melancholic thing ever said in sound". The second movement is a delicate folk dance with a fluid tempo. Its structure resembles a compressed sonata form, giving the movement a transitional appeal. The third movement is unusually short, only 11 bars; however, it carries a tremendous sense of drama. Lasting less than a minute, it goes from swift to lingering, serving as a postlude to the previous movement and an introduction to the next. The fourth movement consists of six variations and a coda developed from a 32-bar theme played initially by the two violins. The fifth movement is a scherzo that is nearly reminiscent of child-like innocence. The movement ends with an almost unworldly passage played sul ponticello with the bow kept near the bridge to facilitate higher harmonics on mostly the highest strings. The sixth movement opens with the viola playing the Quartet's three opening notes backward. Sad and nearly ominous, the movement serves as a transition to the finale, a sonataform structure built on three melodic themes. Years later, Wagner would develop a deep connection with this finale, which he described as "the dance of the world itself: wild joy, painful lamentation, love's rapture, supreme delight, misery, rage, lust, and suffering".
6 APR 2025 │ SUN │ 3PM
QUATUOR DUPLEX
Belcea Quartet × Quatuor Ébène
FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY (1809-1847)
Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20
Allegro moderato, ma con fuoco
Andante
Scherzo. Allegro leggierissimo
Presto
Mendelssohn's Octet in E-flat major, many consider the greatest work in the genre's history, was composed when Mendelssohn was at the tender age of 16. The work remains a musical benchmark for early maturity. The following year, the young composer's Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream would confirm his reputation as a composer of unquestionably first rank, and that the achievement he demonstrated in the present Octet had been no accident. Harold C. Schonberg, the eminent 20th century critic, simply concluded that Mendelssohn's early maturity was "something unparallel… far eclipsing Mozart or anybody else in history". Indeed, even the prodigious Mozart revealed a learning curve in his early works; Mendelssohn, with works like this Octet, appeared to have achieved maturity from the very beginning.
After completing the Octet on 15 October 1825, the young composer presented a copy of its manuscript to his teacher, violinist Eduard Rietz, as a present for his 23rd birthday. Rietz received the piece with apparent enthusiasm, and performance of it was promptly arranged. The piece quickly became popular with musicians and the public. The tonal equilibrium it maintains among an unusual group of instruments two combined string quartets were also frequently praised.
The Octet contains four movements, and each of them has its own sets of distinctive characters: from elegant to eerie, from contemplative to restless, from intimate to orchestral, from straightforward to fugal. Allegro moderato, ma con fuoco is the first and the longest of the four movements. It opens with an elegant solo melody accompanied by thick layers of tremolos and syncopated tones, suggesting a hidden turbulence beneath a façade of grace. The solo melody is then overwhelmed by webs of short counter-motives, resulting in tremendous tension, before a new tonality takes over. A second melody is introduced in the new key by the fourth violin and the first viola. Also introduced is a gentler set of accompaniments that creates a more cheerful ambience. A tonally unstable development soon follows, setting previous melodic materials in quick succession, before the opening theme returns and brings the movement to an end. The second movement is a C minor setting in sonata form. Moderately paced, it is constructed around a contemplative melody played first by the viola, before the melody is modified and passed to other instruments. The third movement, a scherzo, has an eerie mood. It is believed to be inspired by Goethe's depiction of witchcraft in Faust. The finale starts with an energetic fugal subject, before it is interwoven with three increasingly vigorous melodies.
GEORGE ENESCU (1881-1955)
Octet in C major, Op. 7
Très modéré
Très fougueux
Lentement
Mouvement de
Valse bien rythmée
Enescu was one of the most well-rounded prodigies of the modern time, arguably the most important composer Romania has ever produced. Like Mendelssohn, he developed early and was well-rounded. As an adult, he was a versatile composer, a violin virtuoso, a distinguished conductor, an accomplished pianist, and an esteemed teacher. He wrote an octet as a teenager like Mendelssohn did. His C major Octet is generally considered to be among the best in the octet repertoire, a finest successor of Mendelssohn's monumental accomplishment 75 years earlier.
The Octet was completed in 1900 when the composer was 19. Without sponsorship or commission, it was a result of sheer artistic vision and perseverance. When the composer recalled the Octet's genesis, he remarked, "No engineer putting his first suspension bridge across a river can have agonised more than I did as I gradually filled my manuscript paper with notes." The work is daunting to play. Shortly after completion, it was scheduled to be performed in Paris by conductor Édouard Colonne and his orchestra; however, it was dropped after five rehearsals due to 'risks' connecting its technical difficulties. Distraught, the composer still managed to publish it five years later, in 1905. But it was not premiered until December 1909, when he was established enough to offer a concert of exclusively his own compositions.
The work contains four movements presented in a dual-function form, which presents the first and last movements as a sonata-allegro's exposition and recapitulation sections, and the two middle movements as a single development section. Each movement is connected to the next without breaks. Meanwhile, cyclic elements melodic motives that recur while they transform themselves are incorporated into most parts of the work, creating in the piece a strong sense of unity. A touch of Romanian folk music can be felt in many parts of the piece. The movements are conventionally organised, following the traditional four-movement setting: a fluid opening movement, a turbulent scherzo, an introverted slow movement, and a somewhat arousing finale. The opening movement starts with an extroverted melody, foretelling the grandeur of the composition, before a more restrained second theme takes over in the form of a canon. The second movement is aggressive and dissonant, a sharp contrast to the third movement that resembles a nocturne. A thrilling waltz serves as a finale as previous melodic motives recur to bring the composition to a climax. Throughout the piece, instruments are often presented as a collaborative whole, without any instrument standing out constantly unlike Mendelssohn's Octet, which tends to set a solo violin against all remaining voices.
