Mendelssohn; Mozart; Schubert: String Quartets

Advantages: Haunting, passionate music to get lost in.
Disadvantages: It's classical and this puts people off before they even try it.

.... Although Schubert left no indication of his inspiration for this piece it is known that he had around the time of composing it played the Viola in Beethoven’s string quartet No. 14 in C sharp minor, Op. 131 (1826) of which Wagner has commented, “a soul in distress”, followed by pleasant visions, a new yearning for life, beauty, gentleness, yearning, love, whims, humour, hilarity” and then “transition to resignation and painful renunciation” – one man’s reaction and sure proof of the music’s ability to evoke both strong emotion and powerful imagery.” This music sent Schubert “into such transports of delight and enthusiasm that all feared for him”. Beethoven had died the previous year (1827) and Schubert had not only visited him shortly before his death but was also a torchbearer at his funeral. I am no authority on music, I can... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: The writing, the setting, the music
Disadvantages: The characters are not sow ell defined or likable

...married with a child and is going deaf. Their love is rekindled and the lives intermingle again professionally when Julia is asked to accompany the quartet on the piano for a performance in Vienna. The countersubject is Michael?s love for his violin. The violin, a Toroni, has been loaned to him indefinitely by an elderly family friend, Mrs. Formby his inspiration to play. His possession of the violin is challenged by her money grabbing family who want the violin back. To find out how the subjects progress and develop the book must be read. Will Michael and Julia remain together? Will Julia come to terms with her deafness? Will Michael lose his beloved violin? Vikram Seth weaves the subjects together using music as the theme that links them all together. The music of Beethoven, Schubert, Mozart, Bach and Haydn are presented in pen... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Music to take you beyond this world
Disadvantages: Needs a bit of patience

...?string quartet? you?ll maybe think of dry, intellectual, and BORING noises. But wait? anyone who enjoyed the Beatles at their best might recall that Yesterday featured Paul McCartney with acoustic guitar and? string quartet and that Eleanor Rigby dispensed even with the guitar. Boring? And more recently, Elvis Costello fans will no doubt have heard his wonderful album The Juliet Letters in which he is accompanied by the Brodsky Quartet, well-known to lovers of the classics for their interpretation of the mainstream string quartet repertoire. Chamber music was to earlier times what the radio and CD player are to us ? a way of bringing music into our own rooms rather than a large hall. The very rich had their own musicians to play them to sleep. Bach?s Goldberg Variations (grand title ? think of it as the theme music from The English... Read review

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