Presents
Richard Wetz
String Quartet No.2 in e minor, Op.49
Richard Wetz (1875-1935) was born in the then German town of Gleiwitz in Silesia. He studied for a brief time at the Leipzig Conservatory with Carl Reinecke and Solomon Jadassohn but found them too old fashioned and dropped out to study with Richard Hoffmann in Leipzig privately and then alter with Ludwig Thuille in Munich. He eventually settled in the city of Erfurt where he taught at the Conservatory. He composed in most genres. Despite the fact that when his music was heard in concert, it was uniformly praised, neither he nor his music ever became particularly well-known. This was in large part due to the fact that Wetz chose to remain in the provincial city of Erfurt rather than moving to Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich or any other large musical metropolis, despite many offers, and which would have ensured that he became better known.
His String Quartet No.2 was completed in 1924 by which time the music of Schoenberg and the Second Vienna School was in the ascendency. But Wetz would have none of it. Instead he wrote in a tonal post Romantic style. It is in four movements. The marking to the opening movement, Langsam und ausdrucksvoll - Leidenschaftlich bewegt (slow and expressive, passionately) pretty much describes how the music sounds—mysterious and spooky, rather like what you might hear during an old black and white movie murder mystery. The second movement, Sehr langsam (very slow) opens with three ominous chords. What follows sounds rather like the music you might hear at a funeral parlor, dark and sad. Next is a Scherzo, Mäßig schnell-Trio. Ruhig (moderately fast, trio calm) The music is restless with an underlying sense melancholy. The finale, Finale. Getragen und schwer-Entschieden und kraftvoll (solemn and heavy, decisive and powerful). Again, the marking pretty much says it all. This is not a happy work, to say the least. It is brooding, dark, at times ominous and stormy but that said, it is a magnificent work. There is no quartet which sounds like it.
This highly original and interesting work holds one’s interest from start to finish. It certainly belongs in the concert hall as it is one of the finest post Romantic era string quartets. Unavailable for more than half a century, we are pleased to reintroduce this fine work which truly deserves to be heard on the concert stage as well as to take a place on the stands of amateur players.
Parts: $24.95
Parts & Score: $33.95
