[2/25/2011] String-quartet encores, Part 1 --Warning: You're apt to fall hopelessly in love with this little piece (continued)

The Kufchak Strings play Gershwin's Lullaby.


Yes, our mystery composer is George Gershwin, who by 1919 was well on his way to establishing himself as a Tin Pan Alley heavyweight. Why don't we listen to the Lullaby again? (You know you want to.)

GERSHWIN: Lullaby

Juilliard Quartet (Robert Mann and Early Carlyss, violins; Raphael Hillyer, viola; Claus Adam, cello). CBS/Sony, released 1974, but presumably recorded between 1966, when second violinist Earl Carlyss (1966-86) joined the quartet, and 1969, when Samuel Rhodes (1969-present) replaced original Juilliard violist Raphael Hillyer

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HAYDN (attrib.): String Quartet in F, Op. 3, No. 5:
ii. Serenade: Andante cantabile

Now we've got some other miniatures, starting with the delectable "Serenata" from the set of quartets once attributed to Haydn as his Op. 3. (As I understand it, though, the best-guess reattribution to the monk Roman Hofstetter actually has, at best, no more basis than the wrong old one to Haydn.)

We've heard our first performance before -- it's from the 1963 Decca Haydn LP by the Janáček Quartet which remains for me very likely the most beautiful string quartet record I've heard. (It was included in the wonderful seven-CD DG "Old Masters" set devoted to the Janáček. A CD of just the Haydn quartets is available from Arkiv Music.)

Janáček Quartet (Jiří Trávníček and Adolf Sýkora, violins; Jiří Kratochvíl, viola; Karel Krafka, cello). Decca, recorded 1963
Varsovia Quartet (Boguslaw Bruczowkski and Marek Bojarski, violins; Artur Paciorkiewicz, viola; Wojciech Walasek, cello). Seon/Pro Arte, recorded c1980
Kodály Quartet (Attila Falvay and Tamás Szabó, violins; János Fejérvári, viola; György Eder, cello). Naxos, recorded June 26-29, 2000

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DEBUSSY: Children's Corner: Golliwog's Cake-walk

(arranged for string quartet)

Of the encore piece from those St. Petersburg Quartet CDs which got me started on the subject, the non-Russian one is an uncredited quartet arrangement of "Golliwog's Cake-walk" from Debussy's Children's Corner suite, written originally for piano solo.

St. Petersburg Quartet (Alla Aranovskaya and Alla Krolevich, violins; Boris Vayner, viola; Leonid Shukayev, cello). Marquis, recorded November 2007

I thought it might be fun to hear the piano original as well as the violin-and-piano arrangement by Jascha Heifetz.

original version, for piano solo
Aldo Ciccolini, piano. EMI, recorded Apr. 11-19, 1991
arranged for violin and piano
Jascha Heifetz, violin; Emanuel Bey, piano. American Decca/MCA/Universal, recorded Nov. 29, 1945

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PUCCINI: I Crisantemi (The Chrysanthemums)

This lovely little Puccini piece has become a popular quartet encore piece. Our first performance is from the same Juilliard LP as the Gershwin Lullaby. The second is by the outstanding Czech Kocian Quartet.

Juilliard Quartet (Robert Mann and Early Carlyss, violins; Raphael Hillyer, viola; Claus Adam, cello). CBS/Sony, released 1974, but presumably recorded between 1966 and 1969 (see note above, with the Gershwin Lullaby)
Kocian Quartet (Pavel Hůla and Jan Odstrčil, violins; Jiří Najnar, viola; Václav Bernášek, cello). Bonton, recorded c1993

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BARBER: Adagio (from String Quartet in B, Op. 11)

Although the Barber Adagio is better known in the arrangement the composer subsequently made for string orchestra, and especially since Platoon we seem to hear it everywhere, the string-quartet original gets its share of play. We're going to hear it both ways.

original version for string quartet
(including the brief final movement)
Cleveland Quartet (Donald Weilerstein and Peter Salaff, violins; Martha Strongin Katz, viola; Paul Katz, cello). RCA/BMG, recorded c1975
arranged for string orchestra by the composer
New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, cond. Columbia/CBS/Sony, recorded Jan. 12, 1971

ENCORE BONUS

While I was mucking with the Juilliard "Minatures for Strings" LP, I made one additional sound file, not knowing whether I would wind up using it. I didn't, but it seems a shame to let it go to waste. It's the great song composer Hugo Wolf in an unaccustomedly flowing, lyrical frame of mind.

WOLF: Intermezzo in E-flat

Juilliard Quartet (Robert Mann and Early Carlyss, violins; Raphael Hillyer, viola; Claus Adam, cello). CBS/Sony, released 1974 (see note above with the Gershwin Lullaby)

TOMORROW NIGHT IN PART 2 --

More string-quartet encore-type pieces, this time all Russian.


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