About recent uploads by Steve's Bedroom Band

[eschiss1]

I know that the Band has an account here and can do his own self-promotion but I thought a couple of his recent recordings on IMSLP worth pointing out --

String Quartet No.2 in B minor (1891) by Joseph Miroslav Weber (1854-1906). Given a prize in St. Petersburg by a committee of composers most of whose names (except for Laroche?) are quite familiar (on the basis of a playthrough of its particularly fine first movement) - and the quartet deserves it. (B minor quartets are not thick on the ground- I think the notes to a recording of one of them suggested a reason was the absence of readily available open strings (no ringing cello low C in the home key etc.), although this work modulates fluently/flowingly...) Anyway, recommended.

Georg Vierling's 2nd string quartet in A, pub. 1892. (Vierling will need little introduction to some here, so the chance to hear one of his later works should be welcome Brief (19 minute), good piece.)

Eric

[Mark Thomas]

Thank's Eric. I had spotted and downloaded Steve's recording of the Vierling Quartet, but had missed the Weber. Weber does seem to have been a real talent. A String Quintet and a Septet for winds and strings are available commercially, and they are both fine works.

[eschiss1]

Weber seems to have written some interesting music yes. I'm trying to remember if I saw the full score/parts of his 1898 violin concerto in G minor stored anywhere; the piano/violin score of that looks like the whole thing might be worth someone's while, too, I think! (Ah. BSB - Munich library- has a 147 page score- rather larger than the 31 page piano reduction. That looks like it.   Good.)

[matesic]

Small but perfectly formed (Vierling's second I mean). In spite of the brevity of the first movement he finds time to develop the second subject in inversion. And in spite of his age (approaching 70) he seems to have moved quite some way stylistically since the two overtures that Mark posted. By the way, I think I've now trawled all the string chamber music on IMSLP and am starting to feel the bottom of the barrel as far as my own taste and competency is concerned. Wish I could get more enthusiastic about the earlier romantics, but very few of them seem to have much that's original to say in the quartet medium (I'd definitely except Friedrich Fesca's Op.12, but haven't found anything else by him that's comparable). Very happy to consider any hot suggestions though.

[Mark Thomas]

I do agree with you about the Vierling Quartet, Steve, a fascinating piece. I too had expected something quite kapellmeister-ish judging by those two competent-but-conventional overtures and was very agreeably surprised. Thanks very much for that.

[eschiss1]

There are a few things I anyway think look interesting (e.g. Lothar Windsperger's G minor quartet) (though it's hardly up to me! ) but they're only available there in score, not parts- hopefully some library that has the parts will scan them or loan them to a library that will...