Mendelssohn String Quartet No. 4 in E minor, Op. 44, No. 2

March 28, 2004 at 03:43 AM · Mendelssohn wrote my favorite string quartettes, you have good taste. I dont think they are very easy to play. I seem to like the f min best.

March 28, 2004 at 07:40 AM · Greetings,

Mendellsohn quartets are wonderful but notoriously difficult. I have played the d major and the first violinpart needs the same time and energy as a concerto. Very tricky. I would hazrd a guess thta the ame problems willcarry over to some extent. The primary problem for the violin in the d major is first of all to get the notes perfect but then to find a huge range of colors and dynamics with material that cannot just be belted out violnistically like a nice romatic concerto.

Once you have the hang of that the ensemble is extremely problemtatic. To be played well these quartets take very sensitive use of rubato and subtle tempo alterations when linking and contrasting relatively small sections. So four people have to have an agreement about how to do this. There are also a lot of probelsm deciding what the dyanmics really mean. Mendellsohn could be surprisingly naieve about his dynamic markings and how they might confuse people. There are quite a few examples of this in the e minor concerto (things like f cresc to f ???) . I always thought this was odd from someone who writes so brilliantly,

Cheers,

Buri

March 28, 2004 at 04:02 PM · This is just great it's going to take alot of work... I think we need a challenge though! If not We have our old standby's of Handel's Concerto Grossi, and all of the haydn Quartets, ( The cellist wanted to do mozart) but we took a vote and ended up doing Mendelssohn, we got tired of classical style.

March 28, 2004 at 08:05 PM · it will be very fun i'd imagine, the mendelssohn's are underplayed in my opinion, considering how good they are

March 28, 2004 at 09:47 PM · It's a beautiful piece. It's all quite difficult too. The first movement is pretty straigh forward, the offbeats that occur in the inner voices during the first theme can be tricky. The scherzo movement it notoriously difficult! The slow movement is just gorgeous, it has a 'song without words' feel to it. The finale, to me, is a little bit weaker than the rest of the piece; it feels like it goes on and on.

I like all three of the op 44 quartets but not as much as I love the op 12 and op 13 quartets; those are so special.

March 29, 2004 at 12:04 AM · Greetings,

right on Kazayuki!

I am often puzzled as to why such a well known composer as menllssohn is actually rather underated- especially in the chamber music arena.

Cheers,

Buri

March 29, 2004 at 01:12 AM · we're probably going to just play the first movement, because we liked it the most, we only have to play one movement anyways in the competition.

March 29, 2004 at 07:00 PM · exactly buri, i dont get it either, he is obviously (to me) one of the greatest chamber music composers, but he plays second fiddle (hah) to many of composers who arent necessarily any better than he is.

March 29, 2004 at 09:08 PM · I think Mendelssohn's chamber works get played quite a bit and he is very well respected as a chamber composer.

His Octet for strings, string quartet op 12, string quartet op 13, string quartet op44#1 in D major, piano trio in d, piano trio in c, one of his two viola quintets, and string quartet op 80 are all staples of the chamber repertoire.

In addition his two other string quartets op 44 and his lesser known viola quintet get played often also, though not as often as the other works.

Perhaps there was a time 50 years ago when much of his chamber repertoire was neglected but I think these days his works get played plenty, certainly as often as Schubert, Schumann, and Dvorak. In fact I think the quartet output from these three is quite a bit more neglected than that of Mendelssohn. Obviously everyone plays the Schubert Death and the Maiden, the Schumann A major, and Dvorak's American, but there are dozens more beautiful pieces by these composers that aren't heard very often.

April 4, 2004 at 03:22 PM · I didn't want to say anything until I could solve the problem for myself,but at rehearsal letter A The really fast moving 16th notes: I can't get the first up bow fast enough because of that stupid string crossing! I was thinking about doing it with and extended fourth finger, but it doesn't accent like it does with the string crossing, can somebody help me figure out how to speed this up?

April 4, 2004 at 11:27 PM · I haven't tried playing it, but recently sat down and put in fingerings for all these quartets (in case I'm asked to 'sight read' them). Going into second pos on the B seemed logical there, back to first on the E. If you've practised your Sevcik, this might be feasible? Let me know.

April 5, 2004 at 12:43 AM · i'm going to try that, I'll let you know how it works out.

Thanks

Vernon

April 5, 2004 at 01:09 AM · well I tried it, and I don't think the tempo will permit me to do that, wait, did you mean to to stay in second position for that whole bowing or quickly shift to first position after that figure?

April 5, 2004 at 01:43 PM · E-F#-G-E-B-A-G-#F

I would just keep it simply in first position. You might want to try feeling it in a different way. You could sneak in on the first beat of 16th notes, and then maybe you could try doing a very slight accent on that B where you will be crossing strings. You could again do this two beats later when it's a C. Practice that slowly and build the tempo up.

Hope this helps.

April 5, 2004 at 08:21 PM · Well, I would have tried the first 4 notes in first pos, the second 4 in second pos, then back to first pos on the E, as the next string crossing will be for more notes.

However, it's true that the clever little shifts I plan to avoid short crossings sometimes don't work out at speed, and a string crossing, though perhaps not as 'ideal' actually works better in practice.

If I'm planning a really short crossing (ie if staying in first pos there), I'd practise it bowing both strings, to minimise the crossing distance.

April 5, 2004 at 10:28 PM · thanks again guys, slow practice did help and the accents on the The B and the c at the top of those figures did help.

April 6, 2004 at 05:04 AM · Vernon, forgot one thing. Keep in mind that all four of you are playing the same notes, and both violin parts are in the same octave as well. I can't remember for sure but I think it's pianissimo there and with all of you playing the same line, both violins have to be very, very soft. The cello can play healthy yet soft, but you will probably find it works best if you are close to inaudible. Have fun!