Jean Sibelius's String Quartet in D minor, 'Voces intimae', Op. 56, was composed during an existential crisis following a throat tumor diagnosis and subsequent operations in 1908.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Olav Anton Thommessen, a Norwegian composer, often bases new works on fragments from existing repertoire, aiming to guide listeners from familiar historical material to his own late-20th-century idiom.
Composer's Artistic Vision
The title 'Voces intimae' for Sibelius's String Quartet, Op. 56, is a Latin phrase meaning 'inner voices,' which Sibelius wrote above a mysterious passage in the slow third movement.
Compositional Technique
Grieg's G minor Quartet quotes a short motif from his own earlier work, "Spillemænd" (Fiddlers), the first of his Ibsen Songs, Op. 25, which reappears throughout the quartet.
Critical Reception
Grieg's G minor Quartet was met with great enthusiasm by Franz Liszt, a renowned composer, and influenced the young Claude Debussy, another famous composer, when he wrote his string quartet in 1893.
Compositional Technique
Grieg's String Quartet in G minor, Op. 27, uses a generous amount of double-stops in all four instruments, creating an almost orchestral breadth of sound.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Olav Anton Thommessen's "Felix Remix" is a meditation on the concept of musical speed and precision, inspired by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's music and the technological advancements of his era like the steam locomotive.
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