Wellesz: String Quartets

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Viennese composer Egon Wellesz was very much a product of his times. Mahler's conducting was an early influence, while Schoenberg and von Hofmannsthal were influential associates.
Once Hitler's... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

Release Date: 5th May 2008
Catalogue No: NI5821
Label: Nimbus
Length: 62 minutes

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Wellesz: String Quartet No. 3, Op. 25

Work length29:30

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Artis Quartet

I. Langsam

Track length9:51

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$2.10

II. Leidenschaftlich bewegt

Track length5:23

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III. Sehr gedehnt

Track length7:34

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IV. Anmutig bewegt, Heiter

Track length6:42

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Wellesz: String Quartet No. 4, Op. 28

Work length18:23

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Artis Quartet

I. Sehr gehalten

Track length3:28

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II. Massig bewegt

Track length2:06

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III. Sehr langsam

Track length3:06

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IV. Allmahlich in ein rasches Zeitmass ubergehen

Track length4:18

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V. Getragen

Track length5:25

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Wellesz: String Quartet No. 6, Op. 64

Work length14:33

$4.00

$5.60

Artis Quartet

I. Grave - Comodo

Track length6:12

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II. Allegretto

Track length1:34

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III. Andante, molto tranquillo

Track length3:02

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IV. Poco animato Grazioso

Track length3:45

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About

Egon Wellesz (1885–1974) was an Austrian composer, teacher and musicologist, a pupil of Arnold Schoenberg and an eminent scholar of Byzantine music. Wellesz left Austria for England in the wake of the Anschluss and spent the remainder of his life at Oxford University, where he taught from 1932. He wrote nine symphonies and nine string quartets, the latter series of works spread throughout his life. His earliest music is in a harsh but tonal style. There is a definite second period in which his music has a somewhat Brucknerian sound and towards the end of his life the music becomes more pan-tonal and serial in character. Wellesz’ works as a composer amount to at least 130 works in a variety of mediums; composing for the stage as well as for the concert hall. Recently, interest in Wellesz' music has increased, in particular his nine symphonies have been recorded to great acclaim. The Quartets performed on this CD are premiere recordings.

Reviews

2010

Viennese composer Egon Wellesz was very much a product of his times. Mahler's conducting was an early influence, while Schoenberg and von Hofmannsthal were influential associates.
Once Hitler's hordes had conquered Europe he landed in Oxford where he became a Reader in Byzantine music. For a while the trauma of exile blocked Wellesz's creative impulse but he recovered well, and by the time of his death in 1972 had clocked up an impressively varied output. The quartets cover the length and breadth of Wellesz's career, the earliest here, the Third (1918), reflecting key Romantic and 'Impressionist' influences, the turbulent second movement starting out in the manner of Chausson, the rest more indebted perhaps to Debussy and early Schoenberg.
There's also, in the fugal passages of the finale, a hint of Max Reger's playful counterpoint.
The curve of Wellesz's development reflects a trend similar to many of his contemporaries: early romanticism gives way, in the 1920s and beyond, to confrontational modernism eventually leading to a cooler, post-classical style. The Fourth Quartet (1922) is terse, aphoristic and tautly argued, each of its five movements shorter in length than you might expect, its style intense and inscrutable. Calum MacDonald's invaluable note suggests an audible prophecy of Berg's Lyric Suite and there some telling similarities to Bartók too.
The Sixth Quartet (1947) opens like a homage to Beethoven's Coriolan Overture and the classical axis remains in place more or less throughout, especially in the middle movements. Performance- wise one could hardly ask for more in the way of dedication or perception.

Wellesz: String Quartets

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