Presents
Alexander Glazunov
Five Pieces for String Quartet (1879-1881)-World Premiere Edition
"Glazunov's Five Pieces for String Quartet are sometimes confused by music historians with his Op.35 Suite for String Quartet or his Op.15 Novellettes for String Quartet, both of which also consist of five movements. The Five Pieces, although recorded on an old Melodya LP by the Shostakovich String Quartet, when I was a student at the Moscow Conservatory, I was told by Professor Andrei Shishlov, their first violinist, that the players made their own parts from the score which had been published by the Soviet State Music Publishers. Individual parts had never been published.
When one considers the Five Pieces were begun by a boy of 14 and completed when he 16, one must admit that their maturity is truly amazing. While not as ambitious as either the Novelettes or the Op.35 Suite, the Five Pieces are nonetheless quite fine and show tremendous compositional skill. Of course, we cannot know how much help Rimsky Korsakov gave to the boy, but we can certainly appreciate how impressed he must have been with his student’s talent. The first movement is a pensive and reflective Lento. The second movement is a Scherzo presto which makes a fine impression. The following Intermezzo, in which the cello is consistently given the lead, makes an even greater impression. A brief Allegro vivace scherzo leads to the work’s crowning glory, a Hungarian scherzo. The main theme is not at all Hungarian and what we have is a rather straight forward Russian scherzo. It is the middle section which combines an evocative orientale with a very typical Hungarian slow dance. This movement would make an excellent encore. Relatively short, the Five Pieces are strong enough for concert and certainly would appeal to amateurs."—–Moise Shevitovsky writing in the Chamber Music Journal.
Alexander Glazunov (1865-1936) was born in St. Petersburg, the son of a wealthy book publisher. He began studying piano at the age of nine and started composing not long after. It was Mili Balakirev (founder of the Russian nationalist group “The Mighty Five”) who brought Glazunov to the attention of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. This was in 1879. Korsakov, who immediately recognized the boy’s talent, took him on as a private student. Glazunov’s progress was so fast that within two years, Korsakov considered Glazunov more of a junior colleague than a student. Between 1895 and 1914, Glazunov was widely regarded, both inside and out, as Russia’s greatest living composer. His works include symphonies, ballets, operas and seven string quartets in addition to various instrumental sonatas.
After years of searching, we were able to locate a copy of the score from which we have made the parts. The score itself, which we have reprinted, was in a book and not in the best of condition, but nonetheless serviceable. An added bonus of the excellent work is that, although it was intended to be played as a whole, any one of its movements can be used as an encore.
Parts: $24.95
Parts & Score: $29.95
