BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY OF NORTHERN IRELAND 1957-1958 SIXTH RECITAL under the auspices of THE QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY OF BELFAST QUARTETTO CARMIRELLI PINA CARMIRELLI MONTERRAT CERVERA LUIGI SAGRATA ARTURO BONUCCI Violin Violin Viola Violoncello SIR WILLIAM WHITLA HALL Queen's University, Belfast FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7th, 1958 at 7.45 p.m.

Quartet No. 3 in E Flat Giovanni Paisiello (1740-1816) Largo cantabile: Allegro Grave maestoso Allegro Paisiello was born at Taranto and educated first for the law. When he took to music he was quickly successful. Like many of his contemporaries his mainstay of life lay equally in the opera house and the church. Of his four-score operas La Serva Padrona is still more than a name, and he introduced several innovations on the operatic stage. As court musician to Catherine the Great he lived a life of regal splendour, a career he continued later in Paris under Napoleon. He migrated finally to Naples where the restoration of the Bourbons brought an end to his prosperity. Grove's Dictionary credits him with twelve string quartets with continuo. The work we are to hear tonight has been edited by Ettore Bonelli, doubtless one of his tasks being the adjustment necessary following the disappearance of the continuo. It is in- teresting to hear one of the contemporaries of Mozart and Haydn whose reputation in his lifetime was at least as great as theirs. One point to note is the prolonged slow introduction with muted strings. The first violin has a prominent part throughout, but this is not one of those quartets where the first violin is every- thing, the other three having merely ripieno functions. Quartet No. 4, Op. 83 (1949) Allegretto Andantino Allegretto Dmitri Shostakovitch (1906- ) This quartet starts with a tender, even whimsical, mood and ends with a movement that during its course evokes deeply tragic feelings. The key of the first movement is D major, and the low D of the viola and cello acts as a drone bass throughout the open-

ing bars, while the melodies, tossed about by the first and second violins, are chromatic, wistful and impressionist in feeling. A crescendo is followed by an apparent transition to new material, but it is really the opening theme given a new character by a change to 3/2 time. Again the two violins carry on a sweetly captivating dialogue. The opening section returns, but now more quiet and reflective. This lovely movement may be called a curtain-raiser to the drama to follow. In the second movement the first violin embarks upon a continuously evolving melodic line of great breadth and beauty, over a reiterated rhythmic pattern by the second violin and viola. Then the cello enters with its own song. The rhythmic pattern, heard at the opening, returns, more powerfully asserted. The cello sings against it in its highest register, and then the first violin takes up the song. The emotional climax is resolved by the first violin, muted, meditating over soft pizzicato chords. In the third movement we first hear a scherzo, with all the strings muted, which is one of the most magical pages in all Shostakovitch. Enchanting lyrical phrases are tossed from one instrument to another, while those which do not carry the melody group and regroup themselves to provide the most irridescent, shifting colours. A sudden modulation introduces what may be called a trio, the soft staccato sounds giving the music even greater airiness. The opening music returns. Then a meditative viola solo provides a transition to an entirely new section. (In fact this is marked in the score as a fourth movement). The mutes are removed. Pizzicatos and then strumming chords like those of a folk ensemble are heard. The viola embarks upon a chromatically descending theme and then strife breaks out between the two themes. The sardonic mood is intensified as the cello takes up the dance theme in its highest register. At the climax a powerful, recitative-like declamation is heard. Then the dance strains return. softly and the movement ends with a quiet, relaxed violin solo. This movement has strong parallels with the finale of Shostakovitch's wartime Piano Trio, op. 67, written in memory of a friend who had died. NOTE CONTRIBUTED BY SIDNEY FINKELSTEIN. INTERVAL

Quartet in G Major, Op. 161 (D.887) Allegro molto moderato Andante un poco moto Scherzo: Allegro vivace Rondo: Allegro assai Franz Schubert (1797-1828) Schubert composed this quartet in 1826. It is doubtful if he ever heard it, or at least heard it all, played in his lifetime. It was published posthumously. In it Schubert seems often to strive after an orchestral richness and to be breaking into new paths both harmonically and structurally. Much of the tension of the work lies in a continuous shift from G major to G minor; Schubert's genius for modulation finds full scope. It is some- times felt that Schubert in his chamber works admits sections out of keeping with the general mood. The trio in the third move- ment, a Ländler tune with a bagpipe drone, is one such. Others feel that the concluding bars of the last movement are not appropriate to what has gone before. Next Concerts : Friday, 7th March : LISA DELLA CASA AND ERNEST LUSH Saturday, 29th March : GERARD SOUZAY AND DALTON BALDWIN Owing to the peripatetic existence of these distinguished soloists we regret that we have, as yet, been unable to ascertain. what they are prepared to sing when they reach Belfast.