Juliusz Zarębski - Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 34
Vložit
- čas přidán 19. 06. 2024
- - Composer: Juliusz Zarębski (3 March 1854 -- 15 September 1885)
- Performers: Waldemar Malicki (piano), Amar Corde String Quartet
- Year of recording: 1997
Quintet for Piano & Strings in G minor, Op. 34, written in 1885.
00:00 - I. Allegro
10:03 - II. Adagio
20:51 - III. Scherzo
26:41 - IV. Finale
In 1935, at the peak of the neoclassical period, the Piano Quintet in G minor Op. 34 by Polish composer-pianist Juliusz Zarębski was published. The Quintet was written at the beginning of 1885, during the period of convalescence of the composer (who suffered from tuberculosis) in his home town of Żytomierz. The Quintet was the last and the most outstanding masterpiece written by Zarębski, who died in September of this same year at the age of 31. Zarębski was a member of the 19th century guild of composers and virtuosos. Extremely talented, he studied piano and composition in Vienna and St. Petersburg. He composed mainly salon and virtuoso music for the needs of his numerous tournées; the most famous collection is called "Roses and thorns" (Róże i ciernie).
The great talent of Zarębski is reflected in the opinions of Franz Liszt, who had seen in him not only the great virtuoso (sharing the interest in a two-keyboard piano with the maestro from Weimar), but also a deeply sensitive composer. Liszt insisted that Zarębski should seriously devote himself to composing. It is therefore hardly surprising that the Quintet was dedicated to Liszt ["À mon cher maître Fr. Liszt"]. There are however clear musical reasons for this dedication. The Quintet emerges from the tradition of the New German School, whose outstanding figures were Liszt and Wagner. The origins of the work manifest itself in the richness of colour and harmony and also in treating the themes as if they were characters in a novel. That is why, instead of a "classical" motif work, we hear the metamorphosis of the characters, themes return in the subsequent parts, and the finale is the culmination in the synthetic style. It is not the form that captures our attention but the twists and turns of the narration. However, it must be added that the "novel" plays out in a highly abstract register. Therefore, it appears inappropriate to search for a concrete programme. After all, Liszt and Wagner did not write chamber music for a reason. The originality of this Polish chamber music masterpiece lies in the "amicably incompatible" combination of classical and Late Romantic traditions. But the beauty of the Quintet lies mostly in the music.
- Allegro: Against the backdrop of murmuring waves of the piano, the strings sail in a broad unison, the theme in turn rolling but serious, and diatonic and "broken" in a chromatic prism. The second theme in E flat major balances this initial appassionato with a nocturne section: quite light, fanciful and twinkling. The march rhythms play an important role in this part. They are only a "seasoning", they never crystallize into an independent theme. However, they give the piece intransigent, maybe even (especially with the connection with falling chromatic bass) fatal character. The particular feature is a "gypsy" C sharp. It appears in the theme; it causes an amazing journey into C-sharp minor in the second section of the development (ended with a solo, longing cello recitative); it is on show in the daring coda.
- The second movement Adagio, begins and ends with bizarre music which suggests some kind of picture or landscape: maybe a starlight shimmering on dark waters? The foundation of Adagio is the lied (art song). The outermost parts have a hymnic character in B flat major; the middle section in G major can be described as idyllic, in accordance with the symbolic tradition of this key and the connotations of a 12/8 meter. However, Zarębski introduces a shadow, especially in the form of chromatics, which in turn gives an edge of surrealism to this idyll.
- Truly "diabolic" is the Scherzo. Presto: full of frictions, dissonance, sudden changes, contrary accents and "unnatural" scales (a comeback of the "gypsy" Allegro note). Even the diatonic fragments, as a result of "freezing" the harmonic centre, create an impression of wildness. Quasi-folk melodies appear too (and they seem to be Russian: a 'kamarinskaya' dance).
- The Finale. Presto begins with an epigraph taken from the previous movement, after which a cleansing calmness prevails. Further on, the music flows colourfully and capriciously, expressed in a rhapsodic sonata form. The first theme again resounds with a bawdy dance note, with a highly stylized (and therefore difficult to identify) character. The themes from the first and second movement return. The piece is crowned by a glorification of the Quintet first part's main theme.
Fortunately, this piano quintet is now slowly starting to be played at concerts and rightfully so, because this masterpiece deserves a place among the biggest Romantic Piano Quintets. - Hudba
I program classical music for radio and when I'm finding myself with a lack of inspiration, I can count on olla-vogala to introduce me to something amazing and unknown. Wow. This piece. Wow.
This is the type of music you wish is somewhere out there. And it is. And what a wonderful thing our ears get to receive the blessings of such genius!
Spot on!
Amazing piece of music. I'm astounded that such wonderful music is so little known.
excellent mid romantic music,,, about time the radio stations stopped playing the same people / pieces over and over.... bravo!! and thanks
Thank you olla-vogala for introducing me to this sublimely beautiful quintet.
+Mari Christian Welcome as always, Mari! :)
Your channel is truly a great resource to classical music enthusiasts around the world! A true treasure-trove.
An impressive work with an unique chromatic/tonal development rather then the conventional chordal transition seen in most works of 18th and 19th centuries.
Wagner passed by
Cant stop listening to this :) My new favourite piece! Thank you!
Great post. Will definitely have to look more into this guy! Thank you yet again for posting obscure treasures.
….and I SECOND the Motion, Your Honor.....BRAVO!
My favourite piano quintet... Thanks for upload!!!!
+HonorataMusica You're welcome, and yes it is a great work!
The scherzo is incredible
The "liner notes" for your posts are always scholarly and informative, showing a very thorough understanding of the tradition. Thanks!
I studied piano and theory for a brief while at Rugters and Juilliard, yet somehow never even got "topically introduced" to this and many other worthy composers.
This is a sublime piece, evocative of, in many aspects, the unpredictable & cosmic lyrical genius of, for one, Rachmaninoff.....
How many dead and-forgotten musical geniuses, of even fairly recent-yore, are now, finally coming to light via niche-marketing technology, ironically even as most of "classical music" seems increasingly/simultaneously to be fading into a tiny and dwindling niche of [alleged] eccentrics & antiquarians....
I don't think this mass psychic winnowing would be happening so radically, if youngsters were still exposed, at an early-schooling age, to the healthy emotional depths of "earlier" human endeavors at Art, in general, and Serious Music, in particular.
Its a never-ending bad cycle, really. Like you said, classical music is becoming more and more of a niche by the day, and to earn enough money orchestras and other performing forces play nothing but Mozart/Liszt/Tchaikovsky all the time because with so little interest from the general public, there just isn't going to be enough market interest in a piece by Zarebski/Dussek/Medtner/Field/Stanchinsky for it to be remotely profitable
I think the reason being I'd it's so difficult to become proficient at an instrument. Take piano fir example this is fairly difficult and to be able to play you would need many years from a young age and good teachers etc
I play piano but not at thus level it's so hard because I started late and a bad teacher for a while
I love the music but jealous of how easily they play which puts me off classical I imagine I'm playing it but it's frustrating trying to emulate it for real
@@zanexiao4488how often do you hear orchestras plays liszt?? 😂
G. MARTIN
Une merveille ! Quelle découverte ! Au panthéon des quintettes avec ceux de Bloch, Jean Cras, Charles Koechlin....
Heh, I think I'm a descendant of this guy. It is good to see people enjoying his work :)
His nose was even bigger than mine!
@@wlycdgrTheEverydayWorld -- One hopes that despite your paltry misshapen nose, you'll nevertheless make something of your own life, thereby honoring your praiseworthy namesake.
@enigma He didn't have children. Anyone can claim anything. I can claim, I'm a relative to Chopin ( due to his sister Ludwika for example) and so what?
Wonderful. Thanx for this uploading... I've discovered an absolute gem!
Très beau
I admit that I keep finding my way back to your channel. Keep up the good work.
Wonderful channel. A real treasure. Thank you very very much
This is beautiful.
Amazing music👏👏👏👏👍
What a treasure! Thank you so much for this incredible upload. Your description of it is quite lengthy but the piece must be heard (by me at any rate) a number of times before making the connections described. If there is such a program intended by the composer, I suppose that that was influenced by Liszt (and Wagner). I noticed that part of the second movement was hand written. Is the complete published work not easily available or is it only in your personal copy? I found the whole piece very fresh and inventive. As with someone like Arriaga, it's sad that this composer died so young. But then so did Schubert die young (the same age I think) But Schubert was Schubert and no one else was. Anyway I'm very grateful for this quintet and plan to get to know it. (Hell, Keats died young too.)
+Charles McHugh I really don't know about the availability of the score, I found this one floating around on a Russian website... And I agree, this piece deserves multiple listens!
This stands at the same level of Cesar Franck's mighty quintet. The examples to follow. Thank you for the upload.
Bellisimo, Thanks OV
Only: WOW!
Great piece only thing that drives me crazy about most piano trio, quartet and quintet recordings is that the piano is always open to high and it drowns out the strings in many places. It never gets down to piano as low as the string and too often the cello is unheard
The second movement 😭
nice
Wow! Juliusz Zarębski didn't live all that long...
Why didn't Liszt write chamber music? You mentioned it in the description, but I don't understand.
3 years old question, but...
The new compositional techniques that he and Wagner were exploring didn't fit as well in chamber music as they did in orchestral music (except for virtuoso piano music in the case of Liszt). Chamber music usually depends on more rigid forms and traditional techniques, because it's way "drier" or "more exposed" than orchestral music. The new harmonies and such had a sort of "special effects" quality, so in chamber music they would sound out of place, or unorganized, whilst orchestral masses (or the piano treated as an orchestra) fitted perfectly for them.
@@MatheusKulik Yes, this is also why the atonal neo-classist like the Second-Viennese school write much for chamber ensemble, it works well with structures,
I'm still getting to know this work, but immediately what came to mind is what another viewer noted some time ago: "Fauré!" I did a bit of reading, and this work doesn't precede the Frenchman's two Piano Quartets, but it does precede the two later Piano Quintets. Those two are reckoned as part of Fauré's so-called "late period" with frequent harmonic ambiguity and other challenges to a first-time listener. Fauré didn't live to see Zarębski's Quintet published, and I'm not at all clear to what extent the Polish master looked up to the French one. And yet... my gut says there's a connection, and maybe the key lies in this sentence from the notes above: "The originality of this Polish chamber music masterpiece lies in the 'amicably incompatible' combination of classical and Late Romantic traditions." Am I nuts or can a similar assessment be made regarding Fauré's output? Perhaps what I'm sensing isn't an influence of one composer upon the other, but two talented minds finding common ground in a musical era of extraordinary diversity (which melange some music fans mistakenly deem a strictly 20th-century development). I wouldn't be surprised by an opinion that musicologists and arm-chair commentators like myself overlook that possibility all too often. In the meantime, MANY thanks for the enjoyable and intriguing contribution of this worthy but unknown piece.
you are definitely NOT nuts ! (unless I am also completely bunkers....who knows)
I think your comment is extremely well-said. Zarębski does the same thing with form that Fauré does with harmony (perhaps that is a good analogy? Or maybe it is not so simple...)
The autoplay feature served this up following - are you ready? - an Elliott Carter Quintet. Many of you might never have listened to Carter but you might consider doing so. The inspiration for Carter if not directly attributed to this piece is nevertheless a part of Carters muse.
8:35 HOLY SWEET MOLY!
Tudo aqui é muito bom. olla-vogala nos apresenta mais um autor fora do grande circulo dos biógrafos e nos oferece um texto muito bom sobre o autor e sua obra.
Sobre a obra percebo o contraste textural entre a "linguagem das cordas e a linguagem do piano", e mesmo assim é tudo muito coerente.
+marcos aquino Yes it's always difficult to let the string section & piano work together, one the most difficult things of writing a piano quintet. I think Zarebski succeeded quite well here!
olla-vogala
bravo mais uma vez por seu trabalho!
HOLY CRAP. this is sooooooooo weird. I just started composing a piece for trumpet and piano in G minor and the opening melody notes are the exact same and the piano part is triplets................. kms
rare piece
28 January, voted "like"
A criatividade humana tem o poder de nos levar tanto aos obscuros porões dos sofrimentos, quanto aos mais elevados patamares espirituais e à esses temos a música. Mo.31.01.16
großes Werk
To me the Adagio's lilting rhythm suggests a berceuse (lullaby) but there are ominous soundings in the night.
23:39
Dohnanyi and Arensky...
+SeanPi314 Sorry, what do you mean?
All the musical gestures in this piece are very similar to Dohnanyi's Piano Quintet No.2 and Arensky's Piano Trio No.1
SeanPi314
Ah, I see what you mean :)
You mean the other way around :)
very bramsian
Mediocre tripe at best.
what
The Classical Nerd of Classical I believe he might be referring to his own comment.
@@violamateo "stick to you diet of garbage, shit, and shit"
@@violamateomartha argerich and most other pianists play bad music most of the time, because there's very little repertoire of good music out there.
It's a lot better than that...sorry that you weren't able to enjoy it.
rare piece