Credits:

Quatuor Arod

Description:

Quartet Arod's second album is a cool, restrained late-Romantic work, featuring Matilde Zemlinsky (1875-1923), the sister of composer Zemlinsky, who became Schoenberg's wife, Schoenberg joined the orchestra Polyhymnia, which Zemlinsky had founded, as a cellist. Zemlinsky taught Schoenberg counterpoint, and they became close friends. Schoenberg married Matilde, Zemlinsky's sister, in 1901, and they enjoyed a happy married life for a while, but in 1908, Matilde eloped with Richard Gerstl, a painter who had been teaching Schoenberg how to paint. Schoenberg was composing his "String Quartet No. 2" in a unique style with solo soprano voices in the third and fourth movements. Originally, it was named "To My Wife" as a compliment, and it is said that this piece reflects Schoenberg's unstable emotions at that time.Matilde eventually returned to Schoenberg a few weeks later, after some persuasion from Schoenberg's pupil Webern and others, but Gerstl, having lost everything, tragically took his own life at the age of 25 (Schoenberg, who was shocked by this incident, later conveyed his feelings in his music play (Schoenberg was so shocked by this incident that he later conveyed his sentiments in his music play "The Happy Hand"). The Quartet Arod's debut album was performed with the edgy, gale-force intensity that the phrase "Mendelssohn's youth" conjures up. This second album, based on an expanded harmonic scheme and expressionistic late Romanticism, is an ensemble sounding cool, balanced, and restrained, without losing its songfulness. Their real appeal is their intelligence and subtle, precise expression, with the four string instruments sometimes leaning on each other, sometimes merging, and at other times resolutely asserting themselves. In the Schoenberg, they are joined by Elsa Dreisig, an up-and-coming soprano who has been gaining attention in Europe and sings with a voice full of harmony.(1/2) Warner Music Japan

Tracklisting:

1.Langsamer Satz for string quartet
2.String Quartet No. 2 Op. 10~1. Massig
3.String Quartet No. 2 Op. 10~2. Sehr rasch
4.String Quartet No. 2 Op. 10~3. Litanei.Langsam
5.String Quartet No. 2 Op. 10~4. Entruckung. Sehr langsam
6.String Quartet No. 2 Op. 15~Sehr massig (quasi andante) -
7.String Quartet No. 2 Op. 15~Adagio -
8.String Quartet No. 2 Op. 15~Schnell -
9.String Quartet No. 2 Op. 15~Andante -
10.String Quartet No. 2 Op. 15~Langsam