BARENREITER - 345062
Smetana String Quartet No 2 in d minor
Composer: Bedřich Smetana
Publisher: Bärenreiter
Instrumentation: Violin I, Violin II, Viola, Cello
Format: Chamber Parts
Binding: Stapled
Dimensions: 12.2 in x 9.6 in
Pages: 40
Smetana String Quartet No 2 in d minor
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Smetana String Quartet No 2 in d minor
Juilliard Store
144 West 66th Street
New York NY 10023
United States
Smetana String Quartet No 2 in d minor
Juilliard Store
144 West 66th Street
New York NY 10023
United States
Editor: Bartoš, František / Plavec, Josef / Šolc, Karel
Orchestral scoring : 2V/Va/Vc
Product format: set of parts, Urtext edition
Binding: Stapled
Pages / Format: 10/10/11/9 - 31,0 x 24,3 cm
However, this quartet can also be regarded as a personal confession, as emerges from numerous letters by Smetana. He wrote of the first movement: “I have my doubts with regard to the form of this movement. It has a very unusual form and is difficult to understand. A kind of breakdown prevails throughout the movement and will cause, so it seems to me, the players extreme difficulty. This is a result of my unhappy life.”
The quartet elicited mixed responses – the unusual character of the whole composition, its brevity, discontinuity and density were also seen by Smetana’s admirers for a long time as a sign of an incomplete creative process. However, the opposite is true. This work was far ahead of its time. In its uncompromising quality, it points the way to works of the 20th century.
The musical text of the new edition is based on the “Study Edition of the Works of Bedrich Smetana”, Volume XV – Chamber Music Works.
- Urtext from the Study Edition of the Works of Bedrich Smetana
- Detailed foreword (Cz /Eng/Ger) by Marta Ottlova