Presented by Leo Samama.
All his life, Verhulst stayed loyal to the music of the Leipziger Schule; you can hear this in his quartets. He composed the Second String Quartet in A-flat major, Opus 6 no. 2 in Leipzig, and it fits seamlessly with the music by his Leipziger colleagues. This music is melodic, diverse, very well structured, and mainly driven by tone. There was a reason Schumann liked it so much.
Julius Röntgen’s String Quartet in A minor dates back to 1880 and was partly based on an earlier quartet in the same key from 1874. The music sounds like we’re listening to an unknown piece by Brahms. And that isn’t a negative thing because it sounds convincing and inspired.
Johannes Verhulst – String Quartet in A-flat major, Opus 6 no. 2 (1839)
Dedicated to Felix Mendelssohn
- Allegro risoluto, 2. Adagio sostenuto, 3. Scherzo. Presto sempre scherzando, 4. Allegretto. Con moto giusto
Performed by: Utrecht String Quartet
CD: MDG
Julius Röntgen – String Quartet in A minor (1880)
- Allegro, 2. Andante con moto, 3. Intermezzo – Allegro, 4. Finale – Allegro molto
Performed by: Raphael Quartet
CD: Olympia
