Programme notes

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Richard Dubugnon

Secular Suite for String Quartet (based on works by J. S. Bach)

I. Choral 'Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern' (BWV 436)

II. Sinfonia 'Gleich wie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt' (cantata BWV 18)

III. Recitativo : solo viola (BWV 18)

IV. Arie 'Schafe können sicher weiden' (cantata BWV 208)

V. 'An Wasserflüssen Babylon' (original for organ BWV 653)

VI. Choral 'Christe, der du bist Tag und Licht' (BWV 274)

VII. Præludium (original for keyboard BWV 898)

VIII. Fuga, 'B. A. C. H.' (BWV 898)

XI. Choral 'Die Nacht ist kommen' (BWV 296)

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Richard Dubugnon was born in 1968 in Lausanne, Switzerland. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire and the Royal Academy of Music in London and spent much of his career as a double bassist in the orchestra of the Opéra National de Paris. Dubugnon’s music hasbeen commissioned by the Orchestre de Paris, Berlin Philharmonie and the Los AngelesPhilharmonic. It has been described by The New York Times as being ‘driven by a playful modern sensibility’.

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Dubugnon has related how his compositions offer reflections of himself ‘at a given moment in life’, regarding them as ‘variations on a theme’ Many of his pieces respond to works by historical composers of the classical tradition, whose music he has been immersed in

through his parallel career as a bassist. The Secular Suite for String Quartet (based on works by J. S. Bach) was commissioned by the Swiss Chamber Concerts series in 2016 and is dedicated to the Winterthur String Quartet. Dubugnon describes the work in his own words:

"The string quartet did not exist in Bach's time as a distinct musical genre. For this reason, this suite sounds like an anachronism. I, therefore, wanted to do more than just transcribe Bach's works and chose a selection of nine different pieces, all related to the theme of ‘nature’. The pieces come from cantatas and chorales as well as purely instrumental works and are also presented in an upper thematic arc, with a quasi-esoteric thread that represents the journey through a day, from morning to noon and into the night."

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Maurice Ravel (1875 – 1937)

String Quartet in F Major

I. Allegro moderato – très doux

II. Assez vif – très rythmé

III. Très lent

IV. Vif et agité

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Maurice Ravel began work on this, his only string quartet in 1902. This was the same year that Claude Debussy’s seminal opera Pelléas et Mélisande received its premiere (Ravel was in the audience). During the autumn, Ravel was engaged to produce a piano score of the English composer Frederick Delius’s opera Margot la Rouge but still found time to complete the quartet’s first two movements by December. In the January, Ravel submitted the opening movement for a composition prize at the Paris Conservatoire, where he was still enrolled as a student and taking composition lessons with Gabriel Fauré. Unfortunately, the jury did not appreciate Ravel’s work and criticised it for being overly complex. Indeed, even Fauré found it to be challenging. Nevertheless, Ravel was encouraged by his friends from the artistic collective Les

Apaches, a loose group of musicians, artists and writers who met to discuss the burning aesthetic issues of the day and who supported each other’s work.

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Ravel was clearly influenced by Debussy’s quartet. Similarly to the elder composer’s work, Ravel’s is based on a series of cyclical themes, whereby the thematic materials introduced in the first movement reappear in a series of different forms across the latter movements. The opening movement is in sonata form and begins with a beautiful undulating theme that never seems to settle. Ravel’s mother was of Basque origin, and he frequently drew on Spanish music throughout his career, most notably in works such as his Rapsodie espagnole and Habanero. A strong Spanish flavour emerges in the quartet’s second movement, with the pizzicato strings (i.e. plucked) evoking a guitar.

 

The third, slow movement is the longest of the four by quite some way. After a melancholic beginning with quivering chords in the lower three strings, the theme of the opening movement is reintroduced by the first violin, in a muted passage marked Très calme. Over the course of around ten minutes, Ravel revisits the thematic materials of the first movement again and again, imbuing this slow movement with an air of wisftul nostalgia. But after its mysterious ending, the fourth movement immediately bursts into life. Irregular bars of 5/8 create unpredictability and chaotic energy as Ravel’s finale hurtles inexorably forward to an incandescent climax.

 

Although Ravel finished the final two movements by April 1903, the quartet was not heard publicly until almost a year later, when it received its premiere in March 1904, in a concert promoted by the Société nationale de musique given by the Heymann Quartet. Although critics initially gave mixed reviews, Ravel’s quartet met with an overwhelmingly favourable response from the public. He dedicated the quartet to his ‘dear master’ Fauré, presumably in gratitude to his teacher for having retained faith in him as he strived to find his own compositional voice.

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INTERVAL

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Robert Schumann (1810 – 1856)

String Quartet in A Major, Op. 41/3

I. Andante espressivo – Allegro molto moderato

II. Assai agitato – Un poco adagio – Tempo risoluto

III. Adagio molto

IV. Allegro molto vivace

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1842 is often described in relation to Robert Schumann as the composer’s ‘chamber music year’. This is due to the concentrated attention he devoted over the course of that year to producing a series of chamber works, in a variety of genres. The year began with Robert accompanying his wife Clara — a virtuoso pianist and highly talented composer in her own right — on a performance tour. However, after being poorly treated by court officials in Oldenburg following a concert in February, Robert descended into a deep depressive episode and returned home to Leipzig. During this period, he became almost obsessed with the Classical string quartet, immersing himself in works by Haydn and Mozart by playing them through at the piano.

 

As well as his own performance and compositional activities, Schumann was also an influential critic. He held strong views on what constituted ‘proper’ music and was particularly clear about the benchmarks for the string quartet. In his mind, good quartets should avoid a ‘symphonic furore’ and should instead attempt to create a more intelligent form of musical conversation, where ‘everyone has something to say’. Additionally, according to Schumann, any composer attempting a quartet should have a thorough knowledge of the genre’s history and foundations — but should strive to move beyond ‘mere imitations’ of the Viennese Classical masters Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.

 

Schumann’s String Quartet in A Major, Op. 41 epitomises both these values. Completed in the July of 1842, it was the third and final of his quartets. The A-major quartet followed two quickly-completed works, which Schumann had composed the previous month.

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The opening movement begins with a slow introduction, which previews the shape of the main Allegro theme. This is built on a clearly audible figure based on a descending leap of a perfect fifth, while the second theme is built on a lyrical cello theme with an irregular metre. Elements of the two are broken down and reconfigured in the development section, showing overt signs of Beethoven’s influence on Schumann. The second movement is a Scherzo cast as a theme and accompanying set of four variations. Opening in F-sharp minor, Schumann introduces a series of highly inventive episodes including a fugal passage, before suddenly arriving in the bright-sounding key of F-sharp major. The slow Adagio molto has a distinctly song-like quality and could easily have been based on one of Schumann’s heartrending Lieder. However, the final movement switches mode altogether. It perfectly embodies Schumann’s belief that a quartet should be intrinsically dialogical, with each instrument offered the chance to come to the fore in turn, before gracefully retreating to complement its partners.

© David Lee

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