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+---
+layout: post
+title:  "The String Quartet"
+category: [Classical Ramblings]
+date:   2021-10-26 23:15:00 +0200
+---
+> In progress
+
+Following the great sweep of symphonic pieces I have heard thanks to the Philharmonic's season opening, I find myself straying back to one of my favourites subgenres of classical music - the string quartet. A successful spin of the great classic tradition, I feel the string quartet embodies the best classical has to offer in a unique, heartfelt form.
+
+As I likely mentioned before, I feel at home listening to symphonies. However, a symphony can feel overwhelming - overflowing with emotion, volume and texture. For me, that's when the quartets come in.
+
+I find string quartets fascinating because, to me, they represent about as close as you can get to mainstream music from the classical realm. I like to think of quartets (and their cousins, the quintets and sextets) not unlike a band - a few players with their instruments playing a smaller scale of music. 
+Coming from mainstream music, you can easily dismiss the difference between mainstream and classical sound by pointing out the orchestra ('Well, we're not gonna sound like *that* - there's a whole bunch of players!') or the unique instruments (no one here rocks a tuba). Quartet-wise, it can be argued that if you think of a contra bass as a big, twiddly bass guitar, you're *almost* there - and now the difference in what you're hearing is much more likely to stem from the music itself.
+
+But what are you hearing?
+
+The string formations restrict themselves to a single subset of classical sound - there's string, and that's it - in stark contrast to both the back-and-forth of strings and wind instruments often heard in symphonic works, and to the virtuousic, often brooding nature of solo piano works. There's a certain balance that must be kept, and there's only one type of sound to keep it with.
+
+As a result, string quartets/quintets/sextets are often *very* harsh on the ear for those who are not familiar with them (and sometimes, to those who ***are*** familiar with them - Shostakovitch's and Bartok's quartets are prime example) - they screech, squeal and creak, unable to be disguised in the large formation of orchestras nor in the elegance of the piano. Once you surmount that initial repulsion, however, there's something really special to be heard.
+
+The best example of this I can think of is Dvorak's *very* well known (for good reason!) quartet #12 - the American quartet. He composed it while in the United States, and listening to it instantly transports you the the States of that time - think rustic, wide open spaces, a new and optimistic world, with smidgens of Native American melodies. Dvorak pursued the Native melodies beautifully in this quartet and in his Ninth Symphony (also incredibly popular) and predicted many others will follow, which they unfortunately did not. What a shame!
+
+String quartet 12 is the single most atmospheric piece I know. 
+
+To illustrate the difference between this form and the symphony, you can compare this quartet to Dvorak's own ninth, which was written around a similar time and around a similar thing. Both attempt to convey the same feeling, ableit from different directions - the quartet looks inward to the new world from an European view, while the symphony looks back home to Europe ' *from the new world* '. The symphony is far richer - right at the opening, it conveys a deep nostalgia  - and it meanders about a range of emotions until finalizing in a great triumph in the finale.
+
+The quartet is much more gentle - the opening transports you to the wide open spaces, and it feels much as though you're overlooking great plains and rolling hills. Rather than expoding with sudden intensity as the symphony does, the mood in the quartet rises and falls much more gradually.