Presents
Carl Reinecke
String Quartet No.3 in C Major, Op.132
Carl Reinecke's String Quartet No.3 in C Major, Op.132 dates from 1874, while he was serving as director of both the Leipzig Conservatory and the Gewandhaus Orchestra. The first movement, Allegro, is upbeat and genial, filled with lovely melodies, the first of which is a real toe tapper. The second movement, Lento ma non troppo, is a kind of Mendelssohnian Song Without Words. With the third movement, Reinecke surprises---rather than a light scherzo or intermezzo that Mendelssohn or Schumann might have written, he places a dark and brooding Molto moderato, a very Brahmsian like movement. The finale, Allegro, is bright and celebratory in mood. Full of forward motion, there are echoes of Mendelssohn.
Nowadays Reinecke has been all but forgotten, an unjust fate for a man who excelled in virtually every musical field with which he was involved. As a performer, Reinecke was, during the mid-19th century, reckoned for three decades as one of the finest concert pianists before the public. As a composer, he produced widely respected and often performed works in every genre running the gamut from opera, to orchestral to chamber music. As a conductor, he helped turn the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra into a group with few if any peers. As its director, he helped the Leipzig Conservatory become what was widely regarded as the finest in the world. As a teacher of composition and of piano, he was considered to have few if any equals. Among his many students were Grieg, Bruch, Janacek, Albeniz, Sinding, Svendsen, Reznicek, Delius, Arthur Sullivan, George Chadwick, Ethel Smyth, Felix Weingartner, Karl Muck and Hugo Riemann. In his time, Reinecke and his music were unquestionably regarded as first rate.
We feel that this quartet will be enjoyed by professionals and amateurs alike.
Parts: $24.95
