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What were you accomplishing when you were 13? If you were Franz Schubert, you would be composing your first string quartet. In a review of a recent recording of that effort, critic and longtime BBC presenter Misha Donat described the piece as “a very tentative first step…inexperience shows in the rather stiff and orchestrally-inclined writing.”
How far Schubert had progressed by age 16 will be evident on October 6, when the eminent quartet Quatuor Danel performs his String Quartet No. 10 in E flat major to open the Aspect Chamber Music Series‘ 2023-2024 season in New York. Aspect concerts always include an enlightening talk: Contributing his wisdom on Schubert’s No. 10 and the rest of the program will be none other than Misha Donat himself.
The program also includes Schubert’s Quartettsatz in C minor – the first, and the only complete, movement of what was to be a later string quartet. Claude Debussy’s only string quartet, the Op. 10 in G minor, rounds out the program.
Genius in the Making
The concert’s theme, “Genius in the Making,” led me to ask Yovan Markovitch, Quatuor Danel’s cellist, where he thought Schubert’s No. 10 sat along the development of the composer’s particular genius.
Markovitch opined that “all Schubert” was “already there.”
He described the music as “singing, suspended time, repeating rather than developing, intimacy,” and possessing “what Germans call Sehnsucht, something like a nostalgic feeling,” and “very transparent, like Mozart.”
“Getting older, with the tragic fate he will face, his music will become more and more dramatic,” Markovitch said, “but always with this unique ‘Viennese charm’ which we can [already] feel in this particular quartet.”
He described the No. 10 as peaceful, with Schubert’s characteristic “lights and shadows” but in the context of “soft contrasts…very classical in its form, simple harmonies,” keeping “the same mood or dynamic for a long time, no hurries, and the general character is very tender, warm, singing, charming and kind of innocent.
“Of course, there are exciting moments like the last movement, fast and with these repeated fast notes…It’s just full of life and like a child’s game with humor!”
At the same time, though, the “intonation and ensemble are very demanding because it’s so clear that we really hear everything, and musically, the style is not so easy to find. It’s delicate but it shouldn’t sound too fragile…it’s really the beginning of romanticism, but if we play ‘too romantic,’ it may become heavy.” Good balance is essential.”
Deceptively Difficult
The Quartettsatz, written when Schubert was 23 and during a personal crisis, is a much more mature work, indeed “frightening,” as Markovitch put it: “terribly dramatic, very urgent and full of huge contrasts,” with much more complex and unexpected harmonies and extreme dynamics.”
Technically, though, both works are difficult to play, the cellist told me. “The Quartettsatz is very short but so intense! Each second is a world! Quite difficult to catch in term of tempo, the first violin part is difficult, very much singing and very virtuoso at the same time, the other parts very delicate. Articulations, intonation, colors, are quite tricky to control because the music is moving so quickly in such a short time!”
As for Debussy, he and Schubert “lived in such different cultures and different times, so that their own styles are so far [apart]. But to my opinion, there are some common aspects. My first feeling is the sound: Both like sweet and tender moods – ‘a silk sound.’ Both like to create magical worlds [and] opened completely new doors,” with “unexpected harmonies changing so smoothly, very subtle transitions and great flexibility.”
Finally, I had to ask whether the second movement of the Debussy was as much fun to play as it is to listen to. The cellist was unequivocal: “Debussy’s second movement is not at all fun to play! It should sound so natural and easygoing, but we have to practice a lot because it’s very hard!Ensemble, intonation, balance between pizzicato and arco, good tempo, left hand fingers’ dexterity, quality of pizzicato sound – so many things to control.”
Still, “when we feel good, it happens that we can have fun!” And enlightening entertainment from top-tier musicians, with a sense of historically informed fun included, is what audiences have come to expect from the Aspect Chamber Music Series.
Tickets for “Genius in the Making” with Quatuor Danel and Misha Donat are available online.
Origins of Inspiration
The Aspect Chamber Music Series continues with another acclaimed ensemble, the Zemlinsky Quartet, on October 26. They will perform Janáček’s String Quartet No. 1 (“Kreutzer Sonata”) and Robert Schumann’s String Quartet in A minor, Op. 41 No. 1. Ukrainian-born clarinetist Alexander Bedenko will join them in Weber’s Clarinet Quintet in B flat major, Op. 34. The Zemlinsky last graced the stage at Bohemian National Hall for an Aspect concert back in 2018 – which seems so long ago now.
In an illustrated talk, longtime BBC radio presenter Stephen Johnson, a veteran of Aspect concerts, will illuminate the theme “Origins of Inspiration,” using these three pieces to explore the sources that propel composers to create great works.
Schumann dedicated his A minor string quartet to another major composer, while it was a musician who inspired Weber’s clarinet quintet and a Tolstoy novella that spurred Janáček. Clearly, music derives from many sources – and then goes beyond.
As Proust once wrote, “I believe that the essence of music is to arouse the mysterious depths…of our souls” that “finite modes of expression [such as literature or visual arts] cannot express.”
Tickets for “Genius in the Making” October 6 and “Origins of Inspiration” October 26, and the full Aspect Chamber Music season schedule, are available online.
