Schubert - String Quartet 14 'Death And The Maiden' [Tokyo String Quartet]
Ah this disc is getting played a lot in my Blog, this is its fourth outing [5th January 2010 / 4th July 2011 / 10th July 2012], not entirely sure which is my favourite interpretation, probably the Lindsay String Quartet comes close, and the Tokyo Quartet seem sweeter than others, i'm really impressed with their Beethoven Op18 set, it's also good to have an early String Quartet on this disc as a companion.
The Tokyo String Quartet of course originate from Japan, they decided to retire the Quartet, and are now officially inactive, it's been 44 years as a unit, and we have so many documents of recordings from them, they will live on in our disc players.
Every time i play this disc, it always seems to come back to the 'nerve center' of this work, the second movement theme and variations which i always love, one of Schubert's greatest inventions ever, five variations that couldn't be more diametrically opposite, here's a
Theme [0:00-2:14] - A slow and solemn / sad dirge of a theme, at first very sparse and quiet, but you can hear the underlining theme of death lurking beneath, a straightforward transcription of the Schubert song of the same name.
Variation One [2:16-4:14] - A more complex an interesting variation, different strings give different voices, seemingly sweet, and yet there's a sourness there, the first violin dominates this variation, the others are either a gently chugging rhythm, or a gentle pizzicato.
Variation Two [4:16-6:31] - Now the Cello becomes the soloist, while the others swirl this background vortex, each variation seems to get more darker and despondent, and yet the whole thing is still beautiful.
Variation Three [6:32-8:22] - Now we hit the real anger of the piece, a whooping and wailing from the strings, this is my favourite variation, the second repeat of the variation finds a real greater intensity.
Variation Four [8:23-11:05] - And now for a real innocent sweetness, almost a parody considering the subject matter is death!.
Variation Five [11:05-12:52] - The underlying feeling of anxiety comes back, and turns into a louder outburst and complaint, but then returns to its quiet acceptance.
Coda / Finale [12:52-14:06] - The coda / finale slows things down to a simple pleading, and the peaceful dying in deaths arms.
Here's the Takacs String Quartet playing the second movement on YouTube.
The Tokyo String Quartet of course originate from Japan, they decided to retire the Quartet, and are now officially inactive, it's been 44 years as a unit, and we have so many documents of recordings from them, they will live on in our disc players.
Every time i play this disc, it always seems to come back to the 'nerve center' of this work, the second movement theme and variations which i always love, one of Schubert's greatest inventions ever, five variations that couldn't be more diametrically opposite, here's a
Theme [0:00-2:14] - A slow and solemn / sad dirge of a theme, at first very sparse and quiet, but you can hear the underlining theme of death lurking beneath, a straightforward transcription of the Schubert song of the same name.
Variation One [2:16-4:14] - A more complex an interesting variation, different strings give different voices, seemingly sweet, and yet there's a sourness there, the first violin dominates this variation, the others are either a gently chugging rhythm, or a gentle pizzicato.
Variation Two [4:16-6:31] - Now the Cello becomes the soloist, while the others swirl this background vortex, each variation seems to get more darker and despondent, and yet the whole thing is still beautiful.
Variation Three [6:32-8:22] - Now we hit the real anger of the piece, a whooping and wailing from the strings, this is my favourite variation, the second repeat of the variation finds a real greater intensity.
Variation Four [8:23-11:05] - And now for a real innocent sweetness, almost a parody considering the subject matter is death!.
Variation Five [11:05-12:52] - The underlying feeling of anxiety comes back, and turns into a louder outburst and complaint, but then returns to its quiet acceptance.
Coda / Finale [12:52-14:06] - The coda / finale slows things down to a simple pleading, and the peaceful dying in deaths arms.
Here's the Takacs String Quartet playing the second movement on YouTube.
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