Tod 8

These are studio recordings, dating from 1985 and completing a series begun in the late 70s with the C-major quintet and pursued in the early 80s with the 15th quartet and the "Trout" quintet. The "Death and the Maiden" here is not to be confused with the later, live recording made by the ABQ and released in 1998 - which I haven't heard, but which received warm reviews.

Reiner's classic account of Tod & Verklärung is no doubt one of the most sublime and richly expressive versions on record, and can stand test of time, a kind of performance which never loses freshness. Each time you listen, there's something new to discover.

Reiner's classic account of Tod & Verklarung is no doubt one of the most sublime and richly expressive versions on record, and can stand test of time, a kind of performance which never loses freshness. Each time you listen, there's something new to discover.

Der Tod Jesu of Carl Heinrich Graun (1704–59), completed in 1755, was for decades the musical mainstay of Passiontide services (a position now held by Bach’s and St. John Passions), being performed by the Berlin Singakademie virtually every Good Friday until 1884. Unlike the passions of Bach, Schütz, and other predecessors, Graun’s work does not set any texts of Scripture. Instead, in line with burgeoning Enlightenment sensibilities, the entire libretto by Carl Wilhelm Ramler (1725–98) is written in the exalted style of impassioned poetic declamation common to opera libretti of the era, in supposed imitation of Greek tragedy. At less than half the length of the Bach passions, and musically far less complex, with dignified and attractive arias composed in a style somewhat akin to those of Handel’s Messiah , it remains winsome even today, and its enduring popularity is readily comprehended.

Reiner's classic account of Tod & Verklärung is no doubt one of the most sublime and richly expressive versions on record, and can stand test of time, a kind of performance which never loses freshness. Each time you listen, there's something new to discover.

Im Februar und Mдrz 1824 war Schubert in einer Art Schaffensrausch «unmenschlich fleissig» (Schwind). Neben dem am 1. Mдrz beendeten Oktett kьndigt er drei Streichquartette an. Nur das a-moll-Quartett erlebt am 24. Mдrz seine Urauffьhrung und erscheint im Druck. Doch auch das d-moll-Werk muss damals entstanden sein, wird aber erst 1826 geprobt (Schubert nimmt dabei noch Korrekturen vor) und am 1. Februar erstmals aufgefьhrt. Hat Schubert das dьstere Werk – alle vier Sдtze stehen in Moll – wegen seiner Kьhnheit zurьckbehalten? Denn was er im Harmonischen und mehr noch im Ausdruck erreicht, ist selbst im Vergleich mit Beethovens Spдtwerk neuartig.