The Metropolitan Soloists perform the third String Quartet from Joseph Haydn’s Op. 76 and the second by Dmitri Schostakovich. It’s 55 minutes with many good arguments. Firstly, a curiosity stands out: the melody heard repeatedly in the second movement of Haydn’s quartet is today the German National Anthem. In the form of a theme and variations, each instrument successively interprets this melody which, however, was originally intended to exalt the power of Franz Joseph I, the Emperor of Austria, during the Napoleonic wars. It was also during wartime that Schostakovich composed his quartet in 1944. It doesn’t include any musical quotations or explicit messages. However, its elegiac character is very clear.
Haydn & Schostakovich
[Four Strings]
Metropolitana’s Soloists
J. Haydn String Quartet No. 62, Emperor
D. Schostakovich String Quartet No. 2
Alexêi Tolpygo, José Teixeira violins
Sérgio Sousa viola
Ana Cláudia Serrão cello
