The Cecilia String Quartet explores music by Leos Janáček, Alban Berg and Anton Webern on its new album, called Amoroso, scheduled for release on March 19. Read on, as CBC Music gives you the opportunity to stream this new album and gain some insights into the music from the quartet.
The members of the Cecilia String Quartet are Min-Jeong Koh and Sarah Nematallah, violins; Caitlin Boyle, viola; and Rachel Desoer, cello. They launched their international performing career by winning first prize at the 2010 Banff International String Quartet Competition. That win led to engagements across Canada, Europe and the United States. The quartet also signed a four-CD contract with Analekta. Their first release was music of Dvořák, and this time they chose the Quartet No. 1 (Kreutzer Sonata) by Janáček, the Lyric Suite by Berg and Langsamer Satz by Webern.
The quartet recorded the CD in the Rolston Recital Hall at the Banff Centre, a venue where they have performed many times.When asked how this recording experience compared to their first, Nematallah said it was the contrast in repertoire that made these sessions challenging.
“The first CD was full of much joy and brightness," she answered. "While there are moments of joy in Amoroso, this CD is much more about depth and extremes of emotion, which means bringing the listener to some very dark places. There is a certain profundity in the repertoire that we took very seriously.“
Desoer also commented on the demands of the repertoire. She explained that the four of them started with a concert of the CD repertoire, hoping to capture some of the live performance feel when they began the intensive recording sessions without an audience.
Janáček: Quartet No. 1 (Kreutzer Sonata)
Each of the three works on the album has a kind of love story behind it, hence the title Amoroso. Janáček’s quartet is subtitled Kreutzer Sonata, after the novella by Tolstoy. In the story, a man kills his wife in a jealous rage, suspecting her of having an affair with a violinist. Janáček’s music has all the emotional intensity of Tolstoy's story.
Listen Janáček: Quartet No. 1 (Kreutzer Sonata)
(i) Adagio - Con moto, (ii) Con moto
According to Nematallah, the Cecilias feel that the third movement of the Janáček is so strong, they’re going to release a music video of it soon.
She describes how the musical gestures create the emotion in the music for her.
“The texture created in this work, particularly the opening, is very striking. It begins with two voices (first violin and cello) singing the same melody unharmonized and in close imitation. There is a deep emptiness felt here. Set against this, the ponticello outbursts from the second violin and viola that interrupt, a few seconds into the movement, feel like searing burns that amplify the sadness of the barren opening. In spite of all the volatility found in this movement, there are moments of calm that give listeners opportunities for introspection. To me it is a painful summation of love destroyed by jealousy.”
Desoer connects with the fourth movement of the Janáček. “This is the movement that I feel has the largest emotional range. It starts from a faint human murmur of solace, and travels all the way to mania and violence and back to despair, all in four minutes. We find that journey exhilarating.”
Listen Janáček: Quartet No. 1 (Kreutzer Sonata)
(iii) Con moto, (iv) Con moto (adagio)
Berg: Lyric Suite
Berg wrote his Lyric Suite in 1926 but it wasn’t until the 1970s that the secret love story behind the music was discovered. Musicologist George Perle found a copy of the score that Berg had given to his mistress Hanna Fuchs-Robbetin. The score was full of notes in Berg’s handwriting, detailing how the music closely followed the course of their affair.
Desoer says that it’s a favourite of the Cecilias. “We all love the Berg Lyric Suite deeply, that’s why we chose to record it. The first movement, in my opinion, is not where the intense emotional content of the piece lies but it is a sort of introduction with its own distinctive character. It was this movement that really set the tone for our recording. When we listened back to our concert of it in Rolston Hall, we were excited to hear the sound quality we felt fit the particular landscape of this disc. From our very first takes we heard the clarity, closeness and richness that we wanted for this album.”
Listen Berg: Lyric Suite
(i) Allegretto gioviale, (ii) Andante amoroso
(iii) Allegro misterioso, (iv) Adagio appassionato
The final two movements of the Lyric Suite depict the hopeless and tragic nature of Berg’s infatuation with Fuchs-Robbetin.
Boyle describes the fifth movement as “delirious.” She says, “in the context of the piece, which has so many hidden meanings and layers, I feelthis one movement allows the performers to cry out and fight against all the repressed emotion that has built up. Even within the movement, these outbursts are juxtaposed with some very strange sounding sections, which harken back to the tensions of secrets. The movement ends with whirling sounds that come smashing to a wall. And it is over. The crazy dragon that is within all of us has shown itself, bared its fangs and is done for now.”
Listen Berg: Lyric Suite
(v) Presto delirando, (vi) Largo desolato
Webern: Langsamer Satz
Webern’s Langsamer Satz (slow movement) has a happier love story behind it. In his diary Webern described the inspiration as a hike in the country with his cousin Wilhelmine Mörtl. He was in love with her, and six years later they were married.
Koh thinks that Webern is a perfect fit for the last track on the CD. “Even though Webern's Langsamer Satz has been criticized for being a student composition, to me this is the quintessential love song, as one can feel the piercing sincerity in Webern's expression of love for his soon-to-be wife. In an unbelievably long opening phrase that keeps reaching higher and higher to express this all-encompassing love, one feels the emotional cost in what seems almost an impossible height.
“For a long time I contemplated the order of the three pieces on our CD but now I am convinced with the Webern being the last track. I listened to our first edit in the order of the CD, and the journey was emotionally exhausting and almost devastating as the first two pieces are based on tormented, desolate, and unrequited love; to experience the Webern as the final word on the CD, I was reminded that love always prevails.”
Listen Webern: Langsamer Satz
Amoroso is available for download at analekta.com and will be released on March 19.
Related:
Video: Cecilia String Quartet performs at the Music in the Morning Concert Series
Cecila String Quartet’s road diary with pianist Georgy Tchaidze