String quartet
SKU:
BO.B.3664
Composed by
Jordi Cervello. Published
by Editorial de Musica
Boileau (BO.B.3664).
Cuarteto San
Petersburgo (The Saint
Petersburg Quartet) was
written between January
and March 2011. It owes
its name to the fact that
Saint Petersburg has been
a very significant city
for me. I was invited
there in 1988 to take
part in a big
contemporary music
festival, but my
uninterrupted bond with
the city started on 2002,
thanks to the
negotiations of my friend
and pupil Albert Barbeta.
Since then, I have
constantly travelled
there in order to record
a considerable part of my
repertoire: seventeen
pieces. In addition to
the concerts we went to,
I took the opportunity
during my trips to visit
the well-known
conservatoire where so
many great personalities
from the world of music
composition once taught,
and the place that
launched the most
important violin school
in the whole of Russia:
the school of Leopoldo
Auer. Spending a long
time in Auer's classroom
writing my concert for
violin and orchestra was
an unforgettable
experience for me. His
large portrait motivated
me even
further.
Cuartet
o San Petersburgo evokes
many of the most
cherished and moving
moments that I have had
in this city. It is
structured in four
movements. The first one,
Allegretto-Allegro, opens
with an introduction that
sets forth the two main
themes, amid a soft and
elastic atmosphere. The
Allegro starts vigorously
and in it we find changes
in the tempo and moments
of mystery, as well as
certain seclusion,
returning then to the
emphatic theme where the
counterpoint finds its
place. The movement ends
placidly.
The
Scherzo-marcato that
follows is marked by a
persistent rhythm of
triplets that carries on
from beginning to end.
The tempo does not
change, but brief and
decided themes are
introduced, as well as
passages of counterpoint.
Brief and dissonant
chords are heard
throughout the movement,
which ends
vigorously.
The
third movement, Ut, is a
very special one. For a
while already I had been
playing with the idea of
writing a movement that
was to have the tonality
C as a leitmotiv. This
one is made up by two
slow and static parts. In
the first one, the first
violin plays
pizzicatti-glissandi. In
the second, the first
violin and particularly
the violoncello settle on
C while the other two
instruments produce
descending chromatic
harmonies.
Final
ly, the
Introduccion-Presto (the
Introduction-Presto). It
starts with some bucolic
passages which remind us
of the introduction to
the first movement. A
fast and energetic Presto
suddenly erupts. A kind
of moto perpetuo which
alternates with two
expressive passages and,
towards the end, a viola
and violoncello tremolo,
all of great mystery and
expectation, make way for
a resounding finale
marcato.
to cherish
