Works for String Quartet, Paperback

Descriere

This impressive volume brings together three major 20th-century chamber works: Berg's ``String Quartet No. 1,`` Op. 3; Stravinsky's ``Three Pieces for String Quartet``; and Webern's ``Five Movements for String Quartet.``Heavily influenced by the works of Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg s ``String Quartet No. 1`` brought its composer into the musical vanguard. Schoenberg declared himself astonished by the ``fullness and unconstraint of its musical language, the strength and sureness of its presentation, its careful working and significant originality.``Stravinsky recognized his ``Three Pieces for String Quartet`` as marking an important change in his art, and this turning point can be regarded as an experiment in new stylistic possibilities. The first piece features a mechanical repetition of a musical figure; the second is highly atonal; and the final piece introduces the austere style to which the composer later returned. Like Berg, Webern was a student of Schoenberg, and the ``Five Movements for String Quartet ``both reflects the master's teachings and extends beyond them. Departing from traditional thematic composition and form, these gemlike miniatures anticipate the development of the twelve-tone method.