Reissiger: String Quartets

[mikehopf]

Carl Reissiger:  String Quartets  #1 & #2 Op.111 on a CaVimusic CD.

Lovely stuff! If you liked the Piano Trios, you'll love these tuneful quartets full of lively and inventive melodies.

[eschiss1]

These do seem to be from his first set of string quartets to be published (Op.111, 3 quartets published in 1837 by Peters) (out of at least 8, ending- it seems, again, with a set of 3 published about 1859 as Op.211 by Richault). IMSLP has the Op.111 set and some of the others.

[Alan Howe]

Yes, very fine music - but be warned: these are horrible, wiry HIP recordings!  An abomination, actually.

[Santo Neuenwelt]

Sorry to disagree about the Op.111 quartets. His piano trios are great. I have played through about 15 of them. Too bad only two have been recorded, so many beautiful gems among them and good for amateurs as well as the concert hall. Robert Schumann, in a fit of jealousy, called Reissiger the poor man's Schubert. The Trio Art Nouveau makes a compelling case for the opposite on their MMB 447 CD. Schumann's piano trios pale alongside of Reissiger's...at least as far as lovely melodies go.

As to the Op.111, how unfortunate that the Camesina Quartet chose these two quartets. They are not among his best, which is probably why there has been no further recordings. And by taking every possible repeat they created a monotonous quality, which the quartets, if played without the repeats might not have had. Certainly the thematic material was too thin to support repeat after repeat.  And to add insult to injury, talk about anachronism, the Camesina played the music on "period instruments", the wrong period, which not only ruined the music, but more importantly, there was no justification for this as the fingerboards and bridges and strings had already changed by the time Reissiger wrote these works and in the jacket notes or perhaps online, if I recall, the Camesina, who took up a collection to make these recordings, acknowledged the fact, but made a rather lame defense as why they chose to play on instruments which were no longer in use by before the end of Beethoven's life. Most historical evidence suggests that Reissiger would almost certainly have heard and intended for the Op.111 quartets to be played on modern instruments that sound like those of today, and which were in use well before 1837 at the time the Op.111 quartets were composed.

Now, had the Camesina bothered to play through the lot of his quartets, and were they really were concerned about interesting the public, they should have chosen Opp.155 and 211 to start off with. These two quartets are head and shoulders above the Op.111. Reissiger deserves better than what the Camesina gives us. I hope some day we get recordings of his quartets on modern instruments.

[eschiss1]

I've had at least a passing look at the trio in A minor (no.11, Op.125) and second the recommendation there, anyway - found it memorable.

[Alan Howe]

Well, it's hard to listen past the horrid HIP performances to the music itself - hence my post. I agree, though: we do need recordings on modern instruments.