Othmar Schoeck - String Quartets (Minguet Quartett)

Information

Composer: Othmar Schoeck

• String Quartet in C major, Op. 37
• Movement for String Quartet in B flat major
• String Quartet in D major, Op. 23

Minguet Quartett

    Ulrich Isfort, violin

    Christine Langer, violin

    Irene Schwalb, viola

    Richard Krug, cello

Date: 1996

Label: Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm

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Review

Schoeck was dubbed the ‘Swiss Schubert’ and hearing any of his works one can see why. Song and singable instrumental lines were central to his being.

The 1923 string quartet (No 2 in five movements!) stood in danger of seeming old-fashioned at that year’s Salzburg festival of the International Society of New Music. Perhaps it was by comparison with some of the music of that time. However the songful, yearning, romantic lines are presented in an involving and involved web of sound, dense with activity. Both in the rich interaction of the four instruments and in the tart, almost impressionist style of some of the melodies, Schoeck spoke out as a contemporary composer who could tap into high-romance (try 8:30 track 1). There are dance-like inspirations which momentarily suggest Viennese waltzes and simpler country dances amongst the general romantic melos. The ghost-like second movement has a typically long-limbed melody for the violin playing over an eerie scuttling accompaniment which moves increasingly into Elgar territory. This is not the first time I have heard this in Schoeck’s music. Did either composer hear the other’s music?. In any event the movement is not an Elgar clone. Schoeck’s writing is much more of this century than the British composer’s. The third pizzicato movement sounds like a very slightly sourer version of the Ravel quartet or the pizzicato movement from Tchaikovsky 4. It could just as easily serve as a gusty signature tune to some TV serial. Even when the other three members of the quartet are relaxing into another fine tune the second violin continues a mandolin pizzicato pulse which soon pulls the other instruments back to end the movement as it began. This is a tour-de-force. Why don’t more quartets take up this movement perhaps as an encore? The lento fourth movement is a piercingly high lament ending with utmost tenderness. The presto fifth, last and shortest movement is in constantly busy activity without resisting Schoeck’s magnetic attraction to melody.

The very brief (3:35) and isolated Movement for String Quartet is pleasant and has some signs of the mature voice of Schoeck. The 1913 string quartet still speaks of a confident innocence soon to be punctured by the Great War. This is in a conventional three movements. There are aspects of Mozart and Beethoven in this music overlaid with his usual reliable gift for distinctive melody. The first movement is rather long-winded though undeniably sweet. The middle movement is slightly bucolic in feel - Schoeck was brought up in the country. The final movement continues the lyrical strain suggesting the mature Schoeck in the lie of its melodies and their treatment. This is a good work but conventional and not the equal of the second quartet.

All thanks then to MDG for this fine disc played with style and secure confidence by the very young Minguett Quartet. I wonder whose idea it was to tackle the Schoeck works. Whatever the answer we can be glad that we have these fine performances to return to again and again. I know that these works have been played and broadcast (BBC 1986-7) by the Medici and Endellion Quartets but it is difficult to understand why they are not played more widely. When were these last performed in the USA?

Useful notes in English, French and German. A recommended disc certain to be enjoyed by anyone who enjoys Schoeck or those who appreciate the quartets of Schubert, Mozart, Beethoven or …. Zemlinsky. A late romantic par excellence Schoeck deserves to be more widely known and I urge you to get this release.

— Rob Barnett

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Othmar Schoeck (1 September 1886 – 8 March 1957) was a Swiss Romantic composer and conductor known for his extensive output of art songs. He studied at the Zurich and Leipzig conservatories under Friedrich Hegar and Max Reger. Based in Zurich, he worked as a composer, accompanist, and for over 20 years, chief conductor of the City Orchestra of St. Gallen. His notable works include the opera Penthesilea and concertos for violin, cello and horn. Schoeck's music was championed by renowned conductors and singers of his time, and in recent years, his work has seen renewed international recognition.

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Minguet Quartet was founded in 1988. The group takes its name from Pablo Minguet, an eighteenth-century Spanish philosopher who attempted in his writings to make the fine arts accessible to the masses, and this idea is a chief artistic concern of the Minguet Quartet. The ensemble concentrates on the Classical-Romantic literature and modern music in equal measure, and has proven its commitment to compositions of the 21st century through numerous premieres. The quartet's current members include: Ulrich Isfort, Annette Reisinger (violins), Aroa Sorin (viola), and Matthias Diener (cello).

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