string sextet no. 1 in b flat major, opus 18

The Quartet was recipient of theĪlexander Zemlinsky Advancement Award in 2008. They have also been awarded top prizes at the Banff International String Quartet Competition (2007), Prague Spring International Music Competition (2005) and London International String Quartet Competition (2006), where they also received the Audience Prize. The Zemlinsky Quartet won the First Grand Prize at the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition in 2010. Originally named the New String Quartet, it was founded in 1972 by three members of the Prague Symphony Orchestra and Pravoslav Kohout.įounded in 1994 while the members were still students, the ZEMLINSKY QUARTET has become a much lauded example of the Czech string quartet tradition. Perfects in the flight of the melody, in the airing of the counterpoint and of the polyphony, in rhythmical pulsation and in richness of tones.' (Le Monde de la Musique, Juillet 1998) 'The excellent Kocian Quartet enlarged by the no less excellent violist and cellist of Pražák Quartet offers interpretations of an enthusiastic strength and of an exceptional stylistic rightness. But equally these variations so transform the theme, and are so rich in their contrasted sonorities, that they completely transcend the strictness of the form.Īwards: Choc by Le Monde de la Musique, Recommended by Classica, Recommended by Répertoire, 5 by Diapason The stern, rather archaic theme and the rigid adherence of all the ensuing six variations suggest a debt to Bach and especially to his D minor Chaconne for solo violin.

Clara Schumann begged Brahms for a piano transcription of the noble slow movement, and he complied with the Theme and Variations in D minor. There is not yet anything symphonic in this form that Brahms adjusted to the classical references of chamber music, like the early version for octet of his Opus 11 Serenade, which would be orchestrated only to pay the rent. Nicknamed ‘Frühling-Sextett’ (Spring Sextet) by the critics of the time and arousing Clara Schumann’s enthusiasm, it does not conceal the influence of the great Viennese masters, from Schubert in the Andante, Beethoven in the Scherzo, and even Haydn in the major theme of the Finale. We probably owe the first Brahms Sextet (1859) to the example of Spohr. The string Sextet genre was introduced at the end of the 18th century by Boccherini but did not fully blossom until Brahms and Tchaikovsky, before Schönberg, Reger, Martinu and Richard Strauss. 1, Theme and Variations in D Minor (Remastered) Info for Johannes Brahms: String Sextet No.

String sextet no. 1 in b flat major, opus 18