# Tubin - String Quartet on Estonian Folk Pieces (SQ review)



## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Tubin claimed that the most difficult thing in music was to write an impressive string quartet. He loved quartets, had all of Haydn's (his favourite quartet composer) and tried to write his own quartet many times, but often gave up very quickly. When he was eventually commissioned to write a quartet (by the Estonian Students’ Society) he wanted it to reflect his deep love of Haydn's quartets but he was understandably nervous about it. Haydn had often used old Austrian folk tunes in his quartets so the 73 year old Tubin decided to use Estonian folk tunes found in Herbert Tampere’s turn-of-the-century collection “Eesti rahvapillid ja rahvatantsud” (Estonian folk instruments and dances). The String Quartet on Estonian Instrumental Folk Melodies in four movements was finished in 1979, nearly half a century after the Piano Quartet and I find it a slightly frustrating piece. There's only one recording of this (please correct me if I'm wrong) and it's a fairly good one but itwould be nice to have more. Why? Well, the* Tallinn String Quartet *play with some spirit but they are not always secure in ensemble, intonation is not always perfect (less of a problem) and their tempi do lag on occasion. This is a piece that needs more exposure, livelier tempi, more spirit and a better recording. The opening Allegro ma non troppo is engaging and has an interesting main theme (it's also my favourite movement) and is played fairly well by the Estonians. The following andante is pretty short (for an andante, anyway) and is pleasant and I really like the deep, grating cello lines in the centre of it. Where this quartet starts going amiss is in the 3rd movement Allegro vivace which needs a lot more than the Talinn players provide (it's too slow) but its not a movement of great variation, tbf. Of far more interest (and annoyance) is the final movenent which starts as an earthy Fugue. At less than 3 minutes it's a movement that finishes before its had time to get going. I would have loved to have heard this finale developed further as there's enough thematic material here to play with but it's missing a gutsy folk-inspired dancing finale, to my ears. Still an interesting quartet to consider.

Movements 

I. Allegro ma non troppo, ma energico
II. Andante
III. Allegro vivace
IV. Fuga. Allegro molto moderato, ma energico


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