# String ensemble suggestions for the deeper tones



## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

I'm curious about works for string ensembles (quartet, quintet, etc) that put emphasis on the deeper toned instruments. For example, one in which a lot or most of the melodic line runs through the cello rather than, say the violin. Or alternatively, ones which employ multiple cellos or maybe even a bass.


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## Alypius (Jan 23, 2013)

The first recommendation that comes to mind is the three so-called "Prussian" string quartets of Mozart (K. 575, 589, and 590). Here's an excerpt from a review by Jerry Dubbins of _Fanfare_ of the recent Emerson Quartet performance:



> In 1789, Mozart returned home from a visit to the Berlin court of Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm II with a commission in hand for six each of new string quartets and piano sonatas. He dashed off the first of the quartets, K 575, in record time, but once back in Vienna, work on other projects, notably Così fan tutte , temporarily put the King on hold. In the end, Mozart managed to complete only two more of the commissioned six quartets and only one of the piano sonatas. The three quartets, the last Mozart would write, have thus come to be labeled the "Prussian" quartets, though there is another subtext that binds them closely together. They are often referred to, especially among players, as the "cello" quartets because Wilhelm was himself an accomplished amateur cellist and, taking this into account, Mozart wrote cello parts that both highlight the instrument and present the player with special challenges. Some of these may be heard in the exposed passage at the beginning of the Larghetto to K 589, where the cellist has the opening melody high up on the instrument's A string, and in the first movement of K 590, where the cello soars above the ensemble in a tricky duet with the first violin.


That said, I'm not sure that these will strike as deeper toned. Rather they simply demand more of the cellist than had been customary for string quartet composition before that time. By the way, I would recommend the Quatuor Mosaiques as the "go to" performance -- except they are out of print in terms of CD (though via PrestoClassical and ArkivMusic they can be downloaded as mp3s).

















There are probably better examples. I'll keep looking.


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## Alypius (Jan 23, 2013)

Another suggestion: Schubert's String Quintet in C (D.956), which uses two cellos. 
Recommended performance: Takacs Quartet & Ralph Kirshbaum (Hyperion, 2012)










One other suggestion -- and very different from the one above is the string trio of Yo Yo Ma (cello), Edgar Meyer (double bass) & Mark O'Connor, _Appalachian Waltz_ (1996). It blends American folk traditions (specifically Appalachian) with classical. This was a major bestseller in the 1990s.


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

Villa-Lobos _Bachianas Brasilerias_ Nos. 1 and 5 for 8 cellos.


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## Quartetfore (May 19, 2010)

Brahms String Sextets, and the two very fine String Sextets of Eduard Franck.


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## peeyaj (Nov 17, 2010)

Ditto fo the Schubert's String Quintet.. It's the best known cello quintet with the cellos having the most prominent part. The dialogue between the two cellos on the 1st movement the most beautiful ever.

_It stands out for its somewhat unconventional instrumentation, employing two cellos instead of the customary two violas, the example set by Mozart Schubert, like Luigi Boccherini before him, replaced the second viola with a second cello for richness in the lower register. However, Schubert's use of the second cello is very different from Boccherini's, who uses the additional cello to create an additional viola line_


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