HERBERT HEYNER (Baritone)
THE INTERNATIONAL STRING QUARTET:
ANDRE MANGEOT/BORIS PECKER (Violins, leading alternately)
FRANK HOWARD (Viola)
HERBERT WITHERS (Violoncello)
THIS fine work of Brahms' maturity (he wrote it in 1873, when he was forty) is in four
Movements.
The material of the First Movement is given out by the First Violin-the first main tune at the start, and the, other not long after, following a climax and a murmur on the Viola.
The Second Movement is a Romance, and richly does Brahms weave his parts to create the romantic feeling. The second tune, with its quietly urgent broken utterance, reminds us a little of the second tune in the first
Movement.
In the Scherzo there is breadth, happy activity; in its middle part (Trio), a quiet strength.
The Last Movement begins with a recollection of the beginning of two other Movements-the Romance and the First Movement (we remember, from the latter, that drop of almost an octave). Here is Brahms in lusty strength — the craftsman enjoying himself in making music to be equally enjoyed by alert listeners, willing to open their minds to fine thoughts and to be stimulated by masterful argument.
THIS Quartet is in four Movements : (1) Slow, then Quick; (2) Slow, in a singing style;
(3) Minuet; (4) Very quick.