CCXXXII. HARTMANN, Karl Amadeus (1905-1963)
String Quartet #1 (1933)
1. Langsam
2. Con sordino
3. Con tutta forza
Pellegrini Quartett
(23:00)
Surely, it must have been either sheer luck or knowing the right people, but Hartmann -- whose music is hardly ever played today -- lived through the Nazi era without being sent to a concentration camp, despite writing a work in 1933 entitled Miserae, dedicated to my friends who sleep for all eternity; we do not forget you (Dachau, 1933-34).
**
Bartók's Fourth String Quartet (see Post V) was written in 1928.
Hartmann wrote this five years later, in '33. The influence of the Fourth is unmistakable here -- some sections seem nearly ripped from its pages -- but nevertheless there are some beautiful and even completely original ideas here.
First Movement
This lovely, slippery fugato features entrances at four different pitches (A-Flat, D-Flat, E-Flat and C); there follows a fast section which one could compare to the Fourth in many details:
Second Movement
We have here a near copy of the middle movement of the Fourth. Notice the stacked double stops before the cello solo -- almost a copy of the Bartók.
There is one absolutely striking moment in this movement; Hartmann moves the quartet in rhythmic unison with a ghostly harmonic arrangement (bars 29-36):
Third Movement
One need only look at the final page of the score to see the -- let's call it "identity" -- to the Bartók:
Of course, one can never have enough Bartók Fourth, and -- fairly -- this is not just a pale copy.
It's a very vibrant copy.
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