Emil von Reznicek; Erich Wolfgang Korngold - String Quartets (Franz Schubert Quartet)

Information

Composer: Emil von Reznicek; Erich Wolfgang Korngold

• (01) Reznicek - String Quartet No. 1 in C sharp minor
• (05) Korngold - String Quartet No. 1 in A minor, Op. 16

Franz Schubert Quartet
Florian Zwiauer, violin
Helge Rosenkranz, violin
Hartmut Pascher, viola
Attila Szekely, cello

Date: 1997
Label: Nimbus Records

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Review

This is an interesting and valuable disc on two counts. First, it gives us an all too infrequent opportunity to hear something other than the Overture to Donna Diana by the Austrian composer Emil Reznicek. Second, it brings us Korngold’s First String Quartet, which is otherwise unavailable on disc at present.

Reznicek’s First String Quartet (he wrote four in all) was composed in 1921, when he was 60. Despite the date, however, the quartet is very much a product of the late-nineteenth century, rather than the early-twentieth century. It is unashamedly lyrical and romantic in utterance, and I found much to admire in its abundant melodic material and finely crafted movements – especially the slow movement. Though by no means a masterpiece it is nevertheless a discovery that should encourage further investigation into the works of a composer who has clearly been overlooked for far too long.

Korngold’s First String Quartet was written just a few years earlier, in 1920, when the composer was 23. Although his music stemmed from the same late-romantic territory as Reznicek’s, Korngold’s writing for string quartet clearly pushes the harmonic boundaries much further. It is also much more wildly rhapsodic and lyrical in gesture, with moments of melting beauty juxtaposed with passages of stark dissonance in the first movement. The wonderful slow movement is a superb example of sustained melodic beauty, whilst the finale, with its jaunty rhythms and chirpy, lilting melodies, pre-echoes at times his music for the film The Adventures of Robin Hood.

The Franz Schubert Quartet provide the perfect guide to these seldom-heard works, and give performances of great conviction, charm and dazzling musicianship throughout. The recorded sound is very natural and well balanced.

-- Gramophone

More reviews:
BBC Music Magazine  PERFORMANCE: ***** / SOUND: *****
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2010/Apr10/Reznicek_NI5506_NI5467.htm
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2011/June11/Reznicek_Korngold_N!5506.htm

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Emil von Reznicek (4 May 1860, in Vienna – 2 August 1945, in Berlin) was an Austrian composer of Romanian-Czech ancestry. Reznicek studied music with Wilhelm Mayer, Carl Reinecke and Salomon Jadassohn, and was a friend of Richard Strauss, but his greatest influence was Gustav Mahler. Reznicek's break-through as a composer came with the opera Donna Diana in 1894. By the late 1920s he was respected as one of the most important German composers, but his fame was soon to be surpassed by the modern music of younger composers. Today, Reznicek is mainly remembered for his Donna Diana overture.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_von_Reznicek

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Erich Wolfgang Korngold (May 29, 1897 – November 29, 1957) was an Austrian-born composer and conductor. He was a noted pianist and composer of classical music, along with music for Hollywood films, and the first composer of international stature to write Hollywood scores. Along with such composers as Max Steiner and Alfred Newman, he is considered one of the founders of film music. Overall, he wrote the score for 16 Hollywood films, receiving two Oscars. Korngold's serious music, with his late romantic style, has recently undergone a re-evaluation and a gradual reawakening of interest.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_Wolfgang_Korngold

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The Franz Schubert Quartet was founded in 1974 by students of the Vienna Musikhochschule. The quartet began an international career by securing the first prize at the International String Quartet Competition of the European Broadcasting Union in Stockholm. Members of the quartet are active as teachers at the Vienna Conservatory and the Musikhochschule Graz and hold regular master classes at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England. Several important musical figures, such as Louis Krasner, Paul Tortelier and Herbert von Karajan, have helped to form an artistic direction for the quartet.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Schubert_Quartett

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