On this day in 1876, 150 years ago, the premiere took place of Dvořák’s String Quartet in G major.
As with many of the Czech composer’s works, it has a complicated history. Dvořák marked it as Op.18, but when it was revised in 1888 his publisher Simrock decided to label it as Op.77. Although the original work was scored in five movements, Dvořák later withdrew the Intermezzo second movement, which was reworked and became the Nocturne for strings in B major, a popular work published as Op.40
This enormously likeable work was made more unique by the scoring, with Dvořák writing for a conventional string quartet bolstered by a double bass. This gives a wonderful depth to the sound, and the ample bass writing supports a plethora of typically wonderful melodic material. You can watch the four-movement revised version below, with a starry ensemble of Baiba Skride and Andrés Gabetta (violins), Veronika Hagen (viola), Sol Gabetta (cello) and double bassist Roberto Di Ronza:
Meanwhile here too is the Intermezzo included from an early recording made by the Boston Symphony Chamber Players:
Today marks the 80th birthday of the composer Michael Finnissy.
I spoke with Michael earlier this month, in an interview to be published on the Presto Music site shortly, but have put together a varied selection from his output as a kind of ‘starter pack’.
Do give it a try – there is a great deal going on in his music, but I can promise you that your efforts will be rewarded, with a style of ‘Englishness’ that is complementary to Vaughan Williams, Holst and Britten but is also completely different. Listen and see what you think!
On Friday, the Pink Floyd guitarist and vocalist David Gilmour turned 80. I was fortunate to see him live at the Royal Albert Hall in 2006, so wanted to pay appreciation in the form of a favourite memory, a performance of Comfortably Numb with ex-bandmate Rick Wright:
by Ben Hogwood Picture of György Kurtág (c) Filarmonia Hungaria
This week there have been celebrations in Budapest as the remarkable Hungarian composer György Kurtág celebrated reaching the great age of 100.
Putting together a playlist of Kurtág’s music is a difficult task, for it is so condensed that usually one is best listening to his listen to his music in short bursts.
Click on the Tidal link below, though, and you will enter a new musical world, where works for orchestra, string quartet, voice and violin, voice and piano and clarinet trio await. They are just some of the extraordinarily wide range of forces Kurtág has written for in his life, and the sequence ends with a major piece, Messages de feu Demoiselle R.V. Troussova (Messages of the Late Miss RV Troussova), completed in 1980 when Kurtág was a mere 54 years old.
If you listen I am sure you will agree he continues to be one of the most unique musical voices around today.
Today I want to use Arcana to pay tribute to a great friend, who very sadly passed away recently at the age of 63.
I first met Matthias Siefert in the year 2000. We were working at an Internet startup company, Muze UK, whose function was to supply data on music and film to the likes of Amazon and BOL. Matthias was brought in to head up the German department – and later, after the company was absorbed into what was then RED, we ended up working together at PPL for a while.
We formed a firm friendship based on humour (or lack of!), sport and music. Matthias was incredibly well connected and our musical tastes frequently coincided, him approaching from a punk direction and me as a late pop music developer in the 1990s.
Matthias’s connections came through his own love of music and his career as a manager, looking after a host of up-and-coming bands while forming connections to the well-known ones. I have put together some videos of songs we heard at Matthias’s funeral on Friday, along with choice cuts from musical people he knew and who we interacted with. The first is from a gig we went to in 2003, to celebrate the impending release of a new album from Goldfrapp, some of whom he knew well. This was when they were about to go stellar:
Matthias’s funeral began with music from The Coral Sea, the California band he managed headed by Rey Villalobos:
A particularly beautiful moment in the ceremony combined a meaningful montage of photographs and this beautiful early Elton John song, previously unknown to me:
Matthias was good friends with Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith from Tears For Fears – and it was wholly apt that the shuffle function brought this song up to head the playlist in the pub where we had gathered to celebrate his life:
Another connection that Matthias had was with the duo Yello, with both Boris Blank and Dieter Meier. The obvious choice here is one of their stand-out tracks:
One of the many new bands Matthias introduced me to in the noughties was The Infadels, and to this day I am surprised they didn’t make it big, because the songs are brilliant! We went to an old-school, sweaty gig at the Water Rats, King’s Cross, where they dazzled with their special mix of electronic and pop. This song was a particular highlight for me!
There is only one place to finish, however…and it’s with the final song from the funeral ceremony, The Black Keys’ Little Black Submarine. Again this is a song I was not familiar with, but it struck deep with its deceptively pastoral opening and its uncanny resemblance to Led Zeppelin. Listen to the full song, though – especially if you don’t know it, and revel in the moment where the drums kick in!
Rest well, Matthias. We’ll miss you greatly, and our condolences go to your special family and friends in their shock and sadness. I will miss our chats about music and football, more recently from afar, but thanks so much for the music and the memories!
Arcana.fm 