BRAHMS, J.: String Quartet No. 2: IV. Allegro non assai (Part 1) (Masterclass with Rainer Schmidt) (Cuarteto Quiroga)
String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, Op. 51, No. 2
Composer: Brahms, Johannes
Schmidt, Rainer
Hevia Sesma, Aitor
Sierra Vazquez, Cibran
Echevarria Gonzalez, Lander
Poggio, Helena
Cuarteto Quiroga
Catalogue Number: RSS9436_1
The first suggestion by Prof. Schmidt is that the students should play a specific part (6 measures before Piu vivace) in one bow, without breaking. Then Schimdt comments that he found the tempo, in general, too slow. They focus on 10 measures before the end, where the professor indicates them the importance of taking into account the moments when there is harmonic tension and when that tension is released and how to translate it into the performance. Schmidt asks them to play these passages slowly and thinking about the more suitable articulations, dynamics and bows so that the produced sound become the best for each moment according to the harmony and character.
They work each passage by instruments, practicing the mixture between the different voices and the sound balance. The members of the quartet must always listen mutually and have a wide vision of the score to notice where the voices move in each time. Besides, Rainer Schmidt considers that sometimes play "beautifully" does not work.
