Busoni SQs 1-2/Quartetto Webern (Tacit):
Finally!
I have barely cracked the 18th century for months. Finally, I reached a place where my initial Modern leanings (beginning with Deb/Ravel and Schoenberg Op.7) faced off with my recent Classical era explorations over the 75 year chasm between LvB's death and 1901-02.
My last two purchases were Spohr and Busoni, as if I'm trying to carefully bridge my tastes in my most historically problematic period, post-LvB, pre-"Modern" (pick a date!, pick a thread!).
Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, Borodin, and Dvorak notwithstanding, I seem to have had problems finding my "sound" during this period. Late Beethoven comes and goes out of nowhere, and Schoenberg Op.7 was the first music (besides Deb/Ravel) I picked up on in the endless search for influences. Then came Wolf's SQ.
And now, Busoni...
Was he reallly 14-16 when he wrote No.1???
:DWOW!!! The notes say that only Mozart was younger when invited to join the Accademia Filarmonica in Bologna. Now, I try to take every composer separately when it comes to "student works" (some composers are better off early, some are better off late). The first time I listened to
No.1 in c/C Op.19 I didn't like it, but after the cd played through I listened again and heard a masterpiece. Yea, I know, strange.
This is truly the birth of "heavy metal"! Both SQs start off with a menacingly gruff minor key "riff" in classic heavy metal style, very "gothic", as I like to say. I suppose "Distilled Brahms", in that no note is wasted, and every note is perfect, might be apt, but Busoni's personality definitely has a discernable Italianate character in the choice of melodic line; and I get a feeling of "ancient" music here with Busoni in the minor key "dances".
My notes say No.1 is "c minor" but the cd says "C Major". I suspect the minor.
Either way, this SQ, written by a 14-16 year old,... well, what are you going to say? It is quite a piece of work. It is carefully wrought, to be sure.
No.2 in d minor Op.26 didn't take two listens to acheive materpiece status! Right out of the barn door, this SQ means business. I suppose this is what I imagined Schumann's SQs would sound like, but Busoni resides more in the world than in the head here. The feeling of listening to ancient dances is overpowering for me here. This could be Bach's SQ! But there is much from the late LvB SQs here too, but then, they also illicit the "ancient dances" feeling in me. After listening to these two works I am just in another world, similar in feeling to listening to Borodin's SQ No.1.
So, Brahms to Wolf/Busoni to Schoenberg works for me, in terms of 1875-1900, Germanic/Romantic timeline type stuff. Busoni is the missing link.
Well, I'm certainly raving about the music. There are now four recordings of No.2 (including an interesting Busoni/Reger/Pfitzner Vox-like issue (with separate players for each SQ)). The Pellegrini on CPO have been the standard bearer since the mid-'90s, and now hearing this 2003 issue makes me really want to hear them also. The third contender is the BusoniQuartet on Centaur. The timings for Quartetto Webern are:
No.1:
9:34
6:07
5:13
8:09
No.2:
10:30
8:07
5:57
7:57
The music has such interesting twists and turns that I can't what's the music and what's the performance! Perhaps compares might reveal something? Honestly, I would looove to hear these played HIP style. I can imagine the string sound would add incredibly.
Anyhow, otherwise, the Quartetto Webern (four Italians) play admirably. I'll admit that I took their name into consideration when choosing between the suspiciously named BusoniQuartet and the QWebern, haha! I guess I figured that if they named themselves "Webern" they
should be able to play Busoni just fine, haha.
Wow, so, anyhow, these Busoni SQs are the skillet, the pan, and the fire! I can't possibly rave more than I am now: if you need something really nice, this is it. Every gothic note is right where it's supposed to be.
