The String Quartet

Presented by Leo Samama.

For the Irishman Charles Villiers Stanford, the string quartet was a unique product of the classical, balanced, and pure world, that was in danger of being lost. Between 1890 and 1920, he composed eight string quartets, in which his friendship with Joseph Joachim was the leitmotif of his career. Stanford’s String Quartet No. 4 in G minor, Opus 99, was created in the fall of 1906 but was never published despite being performed in London. It was only rediscovered six years ago. The wide-spread melodies give away Stanford’s love for Brahm’s music.

The String Quartet No. 6 in A minor, Opus 122, that Stanford wrote in the summer of 1910, disappeared in the composer’s desk drawer as well, after the first performance in 1911. In 1980 it reappeared. The three-volume work keeps to the Brahmsian aesthetics of his earlier chamber music. With rich often lilting melodies and thematic contrasts. It is a string quartet through and through in the German tradition.