This String Quartet has some technical difficulties particularly for the first violinist but the musical result is worth the effort and players familiar with Beethoven's quartets will enjoy playing it. It is one of three Hummel opus 30 quartets published by SJ Music. All three are classical in style and pleasurable to listen to and play and many would say that they have been unjustly neglected. Johann Nepomuk Hummel was a Hungarian pianist conductor and composer born in Pozsony (now Bratislava) in 1778. He died in Weimar in 1837. Mozart heard him play aged seven in Vienna and was so impressed that he offered him lessons and took him to live with him for the next two years.As an adult in Vienna he became good friends with Beethoven.

Streichquartett C-dur Opus 61. Composed in autumn of 1881, Opus 61 is the last of Dvorák?s ?middle? quartets by chronology for which Beethoven and Schubert served as the most significant models. Beethoven?s influence, from thematic development to motivic treatment, is particularly noticeable in this work in C major. It is only in the finale that the typical Slavic tonal quality usually found in Dvorák?s music surfaces somewhat more prominently. Due to a lack of time, the composer - contrary to his usual practice - turned to older, either discarded or hitherto unpublished themes from other works for three of the four movements. This reliable Urtext edition continues the comprehensive Henle series of significant works of chamber music by Dvorák.

Conducteur Pierre Vachon naquit à Avignon en 1738. Il fut un brillant violoniste qui se produisit sur les plus grandes scènes à Paris, Londres et Berlin. Il fut nommé en 1786 Konzertmeister de l’Orchestre royal de Berlin. C’est également un compositeur qui excellait dans la musique instrumentale : symphonies, sonates, duettos, trio et surtout une trentaine de quatuors à cordes de très belle facture, parmi les meilleures productions françaises en cette fin de 18e siècle. Les éditeurs parisiens signalaient sous le terme de « quatuor concertant » des œuvres plus particulièrement composées dans un souci d’équilibre entre les deux violons, l’alto et le violoncelle, comme les 6 quatuors publiés ici. Ces œuvres mettent en valeur chacune des 4 parties dans une très belle texture contrapuntique. Elles étaient destinés aux « amateurs » (terme qui désignait alors des instrumentistes souvent de très bon niveau) qui prenaient plaisir à jouant ensemble. Les 6 quatuors à cordes de l’opus XI sont tous très différents les uns des autres bien qu'ils soient tous en 3 mouvements faisant alterner les modes et les tempi et s'ouvrent par un Moderato. Ces oeuvres durent entre 10 et 20 minutes. Contrairement à l’opus VII, dont le numéro 2 est publié aux Éditions du Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles, ils ne comportent aucun chiffrage à la basse, ce qui semble privilégier une interprétation sans basse continue. On pourra rapprocher ces œuvres des quatuors déjà publiés de Gossec.

This String Quartet has some technical difficulties particularly for the first violinist but the musical result is worth the effort and players familiar with Beethoven's quartets will enjoy playing it. It is one of three Hummel opus 30 quartets published by SJ Music. All three are classical in style and pleasurable to listen to and play and many would say that they have been unjustly neglected. Johann Nepomuk Hummel was a Hungarian pianist conductor and composer born in Pozsony (now Bratislava) in 1778. He died in Weimar in 1837. Mozart heard him play aged seven in Vienna and was so impressed that he offered him lessons and took him to live with him for the next two years.As an adult in Vienna he became good friends with Beethoven.