Well said! I've really liked your comment for I'm a huge fan of the viola sound and yet its functon in in a SQ seems so strange and poorly understood! The "viola", BUT NO ONLY THIS, is Kind of a Glue between the sound of the two violins and the cello! A composer of genius can compose wonderful music for SQs and yet such music is not exactly writing for String Quartet! The first to understand this IMHO was Haydn and then later Sublime Beethoven reached the PERFECTION in understanding what writing TRUE and GREAT MUSIC FOR SQ IS ALL ABOUT! Ravel, a Master of Sweetness and Structure perfection, wrote here Great and True SQ Music in his only SQ! It seems that is needed more than than genius, however imense he/she may be as a composer, to write great SQ music! Mozart SQs are wonderful music, no question about it!!! But even Sublime Mozart reached perfection writing chamber string music (again IMHO and disputable opinion) only in his Wonderful String Quintets! To write Sring Quartet Music a composer needs to write music that only finds its true expression, meaning, beauty and greatness , when played by a String Quartet!!! Nothing more than SQ players is needed!!!!! ---- As for this upload: Superb Playing by great musicians who are true SQ players! Bravo, a beautiful tribute to RAVEL!
God dang that viola is amazing. Cello too. goosebumps. *edit* 2nd violin passion and 1st violin precision. I just watched an entire concert for free. Thank you - all of you
Wonderful performance. I played this magical work (on the record-player) shortly after the birth of my daughter, 42 years ago, and broke into floods of tears!
This is the third listen today, new discovery, this is a very, very nice version of this quartet. It does what you hope a new performance will do with a piece you love -- it reveals to the listener many, many new moments and harmonies heretofore overlooked. So fresh and real-sounding, as if playing a newly-composed work.
I listen to a recording of this often and I've always thought that the second movement much have a wonderful visual element. Must say I was not disappointed....
This and Introduction and Allegro are I think ravel's finest works. Both pulling conventional harmony of the period to its limits yet are accessible, passionate and touching. What a genius of harmony he was. So innovative and with such effortless flair and elan. Great performance.
I've really liked the viola sound and yet its functon in in a SQ seems so strange and poorly understood! The "viola", BUT NO ONLY THIS, is kind of a glue between the sound of the two violins and the cello! A composer of genius can compose wonderful music for SQs and yet such music is not exactly writing for String Quartet! The first to understand this, IMHO, was Haydn and later Beethoven reached the PERFECTION in understanding what writing TRUE and GREAT MUSIC FOR SQ WAS ALL ABOUT! Ravel, a Master of sweetness, and Structure Perfection Too, wrote here True and Great SQ Music! And, OC, Debussy and others did so too! Just for a incomplete listing: Bela Bartok, Schubert, Tchaikovsky - specialy in Tchaikovsky's “Souvenir de Floerence, my favest String sextet. Mendelsohn too wrote great SQ music, in his last incredible SQ n6. Last but not least: Shostakovitch. All these forementioned composers - and others that I've forgot- gifted us with true accomplishments of what to write music to a String Quartet is about! SQ MUSIC: I mean music that only find their true expression and meaning, its greatness , when played by a String Quartet!! Here we have superb playing (and recording, too, a must!) by these four great musicians! Bravo!
I enjoyed this MARVELOUS work in 1987..at the time, in Houston Texas....IT'S JOYFUL and a MASTERPIECE...Ravel's music is underrated...Such a GREAT COMPOSER, is not a common man...but a GENIUS, entitled to be listened with attenton and delight...
A marvelous interpretation of one of my favorite pieces, capturing the full range and depth of the piece from soothing flowing softness to an energized dynamism that always perks me up.❤
It’s only been about ten days since I discovered Maurice Ravel’s1903 String Quartet in F major. As an old - a very old - lover of classical music I cannot fathom why it took this long to discover this beautiful gem. After listening to it again and again, I began to imagine what the setting could be from where those magical tones emanated. I hardly had to think about it - they sounded as if coming from a dark and magical forest. Then it dawned on me that Ravel’s quartet also reminded me of a composition I love and know quite well: Arnold Schoenberg’s 1899 string sextet, “Verklarte Nacht.” I know of no evidence that Ravel’s quartet was influenced by Schoenberg’s earlier work or even if he was aware of it. But curiously, (and coincidentally) to me there are vague bits of similarity, as in the moments of delicate introspection, so fleeting and haunting that they seem cut from a musical cloth that is similar… but, not the same. However, the point of this over-long exposition lies elsewhere. And that is that Schoenberg’s string sextet was written four years before Ravel’s quartet. It was inspired by a poem by Richard Dehmel, in 1896, in which two lovers are walking through a darkened forest. I didn’t know that until I found it on Wikipedia well after I imagined Ravel’s quartet being played in a dark forest. Now, I make no claim to being clairvoyant, psychic, or telepathic; I am a realist, thus I scratch my head in wonderment..
Hello FritzTheCat... thanks for responding. Yes, I am aware of Debussy's only string quartet. Haven't listened to it yet, but it's definitely on my MUST DO SOON list.@@FritzTheCat1030
Most impactful quartet music I’ve heard. Heard it at Alfred University in the 80’s or 90’s when Juilliard had a summer institute there. The faculty of Juilliard played. It was amazing.
Many thanks for an wonderful upload! SQs are my lifelong passion, and Ravel's SQ is an absolute masterpiece, and true SQ music! When we talk about Ravel's music, so sweet and and imaginative as it is, we can't go without mentioning how Ravel's music has an Wonderful Sense of Structure - perfection! If I have something to kindly ask you for more is the name of the musians!
Ravel è il mio preferito e questa è la composizione che ascolto di più. Eccellente l'esecuzione degli artisti, addirittura superiore a quella del Quartetto Italiano. Magnifico....
El Ravel más emocionalmente diabólico en toda su salsa con unas subidas y bajadas dignas del Ludwig Van más genial. Un tónico para los sentimientos, irreductible.
Si vous commencez mal une histoire, comme si vous fuyiez le sujet que vous allez raconter, si vous quittez la route principale et vous dirigez vers les forêts sombres et que vous le niez, vous serez dans une course constante et sans fin. Croire à un mensonge est la vérité. «Ravel» m'oblige à affronter mes propres mensonges chaque fois que je l'écoute 😘🧙♀🧚🧜♀
Welcome to the world of classical music concerts😄. In some larger halls, the coughs get so loud they're like a concert in their own right, may as well have programs...
