Classical Quiz (cont.)

Are we talking about Anton Dvorak?

I have a recollection of his being an orchestral violist first. (Problem is you don't generally think of him as a piano player / composer.)

Herm

If not, I also offer Hindemith and Bridge as two alternatives, though they are not especially renowned for their piano music.

It's Beethoven. Your turn !!

James H.

Are we looking at Sofia Gubaidulina here? It kind of depends on one's definition of the frase Classical Personage , G's music often being wild, weird and raw (there's one with a big hammer in it, I recall) - but the picture sure looks like her. She was a student and GF of Shostakovich' wasn't she?

Herm

It's a simple question. What was Brahms wearing, way back, when he was working on the original material for the C minor Piano Quartet?

I'll help a little. Black lace bra and panties is wrong. High heels too.

So let us know.

Herm

Brahms had this habit of making self-depreciatory remarks every time he sent off a big piece of work to the publisher (calling the 4th Symphony "a set of waltzes & polkas").

In the case of the Third Piano Quartet he was alluding to a major novel of the 18th Century (major major), to indicate what kind of mood he was in when he first conceived of the C minor.

Gentlemen, need I say more?

Herm

Well I guess I do.

So what Brahms was referring to was, I'd say, the most famous German novel ever, a book which inspired a lotta folks to imitate the eponymous protagonist - with fatal results.

(This was the 18th C, when they didn't have any Naim gear to play with. So what could they do on a bad day?)

Herm

You mean like the guy with long black thing down there?

'Fraid not.

But you're awfully close, Cheese, and I'm sure your native lingo is a great help, since the author is spot on!

Remember, Brahms, as he was starting out, had a thing for Clara Schumann, who was
1) an older woman
2) but married too!

So, as far as German fiction was concerned, there was only one way out

and in that case your example was .....

Cheese

so we're talking about Goethe, and a world-famous novel of his, that drove a lot of young fellows to distraction - always in the correct garb, though.

Even Brahms came close, when he met the lovely and talented Mrs Robert Schumann.

Brahms said of himself that while writing his first piano quartet he was wearing a blue cutaway and a yellow waistcoat ("blauen Frack und gelbe Weste" in German), like the main character in Goethe's novel who commits suicide in the end. Meaning of course that Brahms himself was very close to suicide at that time. Goethe's book was a huge success and inspired a lot of young men to follow Werther's example!

Fortunately Brahms decided against becoming a "fashion victim"...

So now it's on me to ask the next question, right?

There is a good movie, called "Monsieur Hire", by the French director Patrice Leconte, after a novel by George Simenon. The main character has a habit of watching his beautiful neighbour through the window, while listening to Brahms... :-) As it happens, the music used in the film is an excerpt from one of Brahms' piano quartets: Which one, and which movement?

If nobody knows the movie except me, I'll think of something else... :-) It's worth watching, though. And Brahms wrote only three piano quartets...

Btw, can anybody suggest a good recording of these pieces?

First I get to say whether you're right or wrong.

Then you can post the next question.

Well, Rainer, you're completely, and abundantly RIGHT, down to the particular clothes and colors. Had you not jumped in, I might have followed young werther's example after all these fruitless helpful hints. Except, where do you get black tails and a canary waistcoat these days. (Isn't that just the silliest thing: you're gonna blow your brains out, but first you're having a weird suit fitted out.)

So on to the Simenon question!

Night all

Herm

Thanks, Rainer.

Herm

Sad but true, the best recording of the Brahms Piano Quartets to my mind is the sixties Beaux Arts Trio set on Philips (dirt cheap as a Duo issue).

Isidore Cohen (later of the Juilliard String Qt) on violin, and Walter Trampler on viola. There's a cohesion and fun to this playing that's unparalleled. (Same goes for their Brahms Piano Trios.)

Of course I was literally raised on the big brown Philips record set with Brahms chamber music, so I might be biased, but trust me I've tried many other recordings, shelled out a lotta bucks over the years, and every time the ensemble falls apart, or the music turns dour and grubby.

The Ax - Stern - Ma - Laredo recording on Sony is an instance. It's wonderful playing, but it's concert music, not chamber music. As a consequence the eloquence and drama particular to these scores evaporates. So which one do you listen to, Rainer?

And has anyone seen Rainer's movie?

I have the Ax/Stern/Laredo/Ma set, and I second Herm's opinion. It is not a chamber ensemble, it's four soloists. Also, it sounds a bit "heart on sleeve" - like a Hollywood remake of my movie... :-)

Since nobody seems to know "Monsieur Hire", I think I'll answer that question myself and ask a new one.

The excerpt used in the film is from the last movement of the g-minor quartet, a slower contrasting episode to the "Hungarian" main theme. It's sublimely beautiful, and "makes" the movie, at least for me.

Now the new question: Which composer used to sign his letters with the beginning of one of his own string quartets?

Another hint: The period we are looking at is the early romantic.

Well, I checked the Schumann quartets for a signature motto at the start, and nothing turned up (love those pieces, though you rarely ever hear them - well, maybe that's why).

So I figure Schubert is the early romantic you're getting at? His name is eminently transcribable (F - E flat - C - B) and he wrote a lot for string quartet - I'm not familiar with all of it.

Shostakovich used to do this motto thing ad nauseam, so he was my first suspect, but he's no early romantic. So I'll go for Schubert

Herm

Schumann did this kind of thing, but only in his piano music, as far as I know. There are the "Abegg" variations, and in a sonata he has hidden the last name of his friend Niels Gade.

Another hint: The composer with the musical signature wrote an opera based on Goethe's Faust! :-)

And he was quite creative in spelling his own name...

So I guess it's Berlioz, who after all composed Le Damnation de Faust, which as I recall was in last year's Proms. The orchestra and the choir were so big, there was room for maybe five people as an audience.

And I should be sorry, for I am totally unaware of any string quartet activity by H. B. In fact, I have his Symphonie Fantastique and that's about it.

So tell me more.

Herm

But there was at least one Faust opera before Berlioz.

you got me stumped.

I can only think of Liszt's Faust Symphony, but obviously that's no opera, and, the way I look at it, Liszt has to postdate Berlioz.

I feel it's getting time for some assistence from other parts of the world (universe, etc).

Herm