Release Date: 12 January 1999
Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 636943407929
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: MOERAN
Description
Ernest John Moeran(1894-1950) String Quartet in Eflat major String Quartet in Aminor String Trio in G majorErnest John Moeranbelongs to the generation of British composers that flourished in the firsthalf of the twentieth century. He was born in 1894 into a family of Anglo-Irishorigin and was sent to school at Uppingham, where Joachim was an occasionalvisitor. His studies at the Royal College of Music were interrupted by the war,in which he was seriously wounded, and his health and later stability seem tohave been seriously affected by his injuries, when a piece of shrapnel lodgedin his brain. He resumed his studies at the Royal College under John Irelandafter a brief period of work as a schoolmaster at Uppingham. Ireland remained astrong influence on his composition, as was Delius and, it might be supposed,his friend Peter Warlock. Other influences may be found in the landscape andfolk-song of his native Norfolk and in those of the country of his forebears,Ireland, where he died in 1950. His earlier work included songs and chambermusic that earned him favourable attention, while the 1930s brought a change ofdirection, notably in his First Symphony, a work suggesting theinfluence of Sibelius that given its first performance in January 1938, after aprolonged period of gestation. In 1945 he married the cellist Peers Coetmore,for whom he wrote his Cello Concerto, followed by other works for theinstrument.Moeran's StringQuartet in E flat major is apparently an early work, its manuscriptfound among the composer's papers by his widow after his death. It opens with afirst violin theme of pastoral suggestion, then a transitional passage ofgreater range and excitement, followed by the gentle second subject. Thecentral development of this sonata-form movement brings shifts of tonality,cross-rhythms and elaboration of texture, as the second violin and cello offeran arpeggio accompaniment, before the viola leads into a quieter mood. Theoriginal key returns with the first subject in recapitulation, duly followed bythe second, which leads to a rapid coda of repeated notes, gradually dying awayto a softly sustained tonic chord. The opening phrase of the viola, in thesecond movement, is at first answered strongly by the other instruments, thenin softer tones and for a third time by a very soft D major chord. Therefollows the introduction to a folk-song-like theme in that key from the firstviolin, succeeded by a passage of greater vigour that leads to the final Vivace.This is opened by the rhythmic repetition of a single note by the mutedsecond violin. A thematic fragment is heard from the muted first violin,imitated by the viola before the unmuted cello proposes a theme, echoed byviola and second violin in turn, in the compound rhythm of the first movement.This is followed by the first violin with its own thematic material. There is achange of key from E minor to E major and a change of pace and rhythm, marked Allegretto,moving, with other changes of tonality, t
Tracklisting
Dariia Lytvishko
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop
Alice Di Piazza; Basel Sinfonietta; NDR Bigband; Titus Engel
Anna Alas i Jove; Miquel Villalba
David Childs; Black Dyke Band; Nicholas Childs
Zenz:Cathariou:Iacovidou
Zahir Ensemble
Yun-Yi Qin
