# Czerny - String Quartet in D Minor (SQ review)



## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Known as a piano teacher and also as a pupil of Beethoven, Carl Czerny (1791-1857) enjoys practically no fame as a composer today but in his time this former child prodigy (accepted as a 10 year old by the highly impressed Beethoven as a student) made quite a name for himself in music circles. He was allegedly able to play nearly all of Beethoven's piano works from memory and even performed Beethoven's first Piano Concerto upon the maestro's request. He stayed close to Beethoven until he died, even introducing him to his young pupil, Liszt. The composing maniac (round about 800 published works) acquired great reputation and wealth from piano teaching and educational writing for the piano and other compositions and on his death he left all his fortune to charities (especially one institute for the deaf), his housekeeper and his local music group. By all accounts Czerny was just a genuinely really nice guy and hugely respected by his peers. His (roughly 40) string quartets have only been passed down as manuscripts from Czerny's estate and only a few have been recorded as yet (Czerny was reluctant to publish his string quartets for fear they would damage his reputation). Silly man! Czerny composed in the tradition of Haydn and Beethoven and echoes of Mendelssohn and Schubert can be discerned as well as a romantic style full of drama and expression. 
His String Quartet in D Minor is a lovely 4 movement piece beginning with a feverish Allegro full of drama, ebb and flow. The shorter 2nd movement scherzo, with its stuttering opening of dark galloping rhythms, is softened only briefly by a merry 
trio. A tender Beethovenian adagio follows with a troubled central theme of nervous, angry tremolos. In the Mendelssohnian finale there's some nice cascading strings and interesting dynamics to complete this highly accomplished piece . Give this a try. If you like the early quartets of Schubert and particularly the quartets of Beethoven and Mendelssohn you'll definitely go for this. For me it's a quartet that deserves to be better known. Only 3 recordings up to now.

Recordings

*Top Pick*

*Sheridan Ensemble *- this quirky flexible International ensemble (formed by British cellist Anna Carrewe) play in a more HIP-informed style than their better known competitors, using creative bowing techniques and dynamics, rather than excessive vibrato. The sound they create is harder-edged than the Lawrences but way more pleasant to my ear (think Artemis Quartet). Their opening two movements work especially well in this respect. My advice - Grab this Capriccio set before it disappears out of print! The other quartets are similarly engaging but this is my favourite.

*Haydn Quartett *- not heard all of this Gramola release yet but the finale on Youtube is iimpressive (see below). If I do get to hear the rest I'll post my comments.






Also (just) recommended

St Lawrence - the better known of the three ensembles but it's not particularly well recorded (the sound is heavy and soupy) and this account has dipped measurably in my estimation since my last listen, some years ago. I'd forgotten that the St. Lawrences play with a lot of vibrato, which I think doesn't suit this music as well as the Sheridans. It's not bad at all but not in the league of the opposition.


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## SearsPoncho (Sep 23, 2020)

What a wonderful quartet! Why isn't it played more? This should be standard repertoire fare. Gets better with each listen.


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