Search - Joseph Martin Kraus :: Joseph Martin Kraus: Flötenquintett; Streichquartette

What wonderful music!

Heruvo | Canada | 07/26/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What wonderful music! I bought this disk for the string quartet Op 1 No 4 of which I did not have a recording. Joseph Martin Kraus (1756 - 1792) may have written as many as 16 string quartets, although the music of the first six is lost (but might conceivably form the bulk of the quartets that were published in 1783 as his Opus 1). Kraus did not only write music but was also a scholar who wrote about music. At Göttingen where he studied law, he was stimulated by Nicolaus Forkel (JS Bach's biographer) and by the "Sturm und Drang" movement, and eventually persuaded by a fellow student to become a musician at the Swedish court of Gustav III. While his music can be recognised as belonging to the classical period, it is completely original and is nothing like that of Haydn or Mozart. Every string quartet is individualistic, from two to four movments, all four instruments sharing the score as full partners, with frequent changes in tempo & character that reminds of CPE Bach's "empfindsamkeit." The music gives the impression of being sincere, empathetic and understated. This understated character is particularly striking in the way he ends many of his movements.



The string quartet Op 1 No 4 was no disappointment, in three movements (fast slow fast) and at more than 20 minutes, one of his longer quartets. The middle movement is a lovely chorale-like song and the last "Allegro molto" movement exciting.



The surprise for me on this CD was the flute quintet. These compositions are often written in concertante style as flute solos with quartet accompaniment. Not so with this 27-minute long quintet in which Kraus creates beautiful music in which the flute and the members of the quartet make music equally. Great music.



The Schuppanzigh Quartet is an outstanding quartet concentrating on period interpretation and in my opinion in the league of the Quatuor Mosaiques. I can recommend this disk not only because of the extraordinary music written by Kraus, but also because of the extraordinary interpretation thereof by the Schuppanzigh Quartet."