Reicha: Quatuor Scientifique Reicha Quartet

• Anton Reicha (1770 - 1836):
• 1 La pantomime 11:07
• Quatuor scientifique:
• 2 Quatuor scientifique: I. Adagio - Allegro - Tempo primo - Allegro - Tempo primo 05:25
• 3 Quatuor scientifique: II. Fuga. Allegro vivace 03:51
• 4 Quatuor scientifique: III. Fuga. Poco andante 03:57
• 5 Quatuor scientifique: IV. Fuga. Allegro moderato 03:11
• 6 Quatuor scientifique: V. Fuga. Allegro moderato 03:44
• 7 Quatuor scientifique: VI. Fuga. Allegro 02:29
• 8 Quatuor scientifique: VII. Fuga. Thème de W.A. Mozart 02:41
• 9 Quatuor scientifique: VIII. Allegro assai 02:36
• 10 Quatuor scientifique: IX. Fuga a 3 soggetti 05:13
• 11 Quatuor scientifique: X. Menuetto 05:45
• 12 Quatuor scientifique: XI. Fuga. Thème de J. Haydn 02:58
• 13 Quatuor scientifique: XII. Finale. Mésure composée 06:13
• Total Runtime 59:10

Info for Reicha: Quatuor Scientifique

This release features a new recording of the seldom-performed work Quatuor Scientifique by Czech composer Anton Reicha. Reicha was born in 1770 and he is best known for his writings on music theory. His music is a fascinating insight into how his theories worked in practice and this release recognises the composer as a genius ahead of his time.

The set opens with La Pantomime; it’s still disputed as to whether this is an introduction to the Quatuor Scientifique or a different piece altogether. The following tracks go on to feature all 12 movements the Quatuor Scientifique and reveal it as a forward-looking work, unique for its time.

Reicha moved in musical circles throughout his life: he studied at the University of Bonn alongside Beethoven and was offered the chance to study under Joseph Haydn. Unlikehis contemporaries, Reicha broke with classical and baroque traditions and pushed radical new ideas about polytonality and polyrhythms, and he challenged the strict rules underpinning composition structures. For example in his modern interpretation of the fugue, he disregarded the rules which dictated that it must be in the dominant of the previous key and rather he declared the fugue as free to use any melody or key. Unsurprisingly, Reicha’s rule-breaking didn’t sit well with the sensibilities of the era and he counted Beethoven among his critics who commented ‘such fugues are no fugues’.

The controversy surrounding some of his works goes someway to explain why Reicha failed to achieve mainstream success in his lifetime. Nevertheless, he was a respected figure and in his later life he taught Franz Liszt, Hector Berlioz and César Franck, who would later weave his ideas into their own compositions. Many of Reicha’s works were unpublished when he died in 1836, including the Quatuor Scientifique, written while he lived in Vienna. The unpublished manuscript was shelved in a Parisian library and largely forgotten, until recently.

Quatuor Scientifique is the debut release from the Reicha Quartet, a pioneering ensemble dedicated to uncovering music and performance aesthetics of the 18th and 19th centuries. This new venture brings Reicha’s work necessary recognition and highlights his key role in shaping European musical tradition.

Czech composer Anton Reicha (1770-1836) was mainly known for his standard music theory writings, yet lately his compositional output is rediscovered. His wind quintets and his piano works receive their due recognition and his string quartets contain some strikingly original feats.

This new recording presents the first recording of the Quatuor Scientifique, a unique, 13-movement work in which the four movements of the standard string quartet are alternated by fugues (a “scientific” form according to Reicha), and with an introduction titled “La Pantomime”, in which the music describes certain mythological stories.

Excellent performance by the Reicha Quartet, a young Czech group specializing in the research and performance of forgotten works from the Age of Enlightenment.

Reicha Quartet

Reicha Quartet
Members of the Reicha Quartet have a common desire. They try to understand the longings and efforts of artists and audiences in the late 18th and early 19th century. They attempt to penetrate the feelings and thoughts which lead to creating unique works full of strong emotions and self-reflection. They share a fascination over how easy it is these days to look into the past - thanks to the relatively easy accessibility of primary sources and early prints. By reading the critical reviews and views on music production and composition, aesthetic essays and commentaries to cultural events, they gain insight into the aesthetics of 18th and 19th century. When we read the parts of Mendelssohn quartets marked by Ferdinand David - the violinist who performed with Mendelssohn himself, we feel like looking over his shoulder just at the very moment when he played the first violin part. When we read The Notebooks of Antonín Reicha, we feel the writing to be addressed to us as well as to his contemporaries. We feel it is our duty to use our empathy and knowledge to convey this experience to audience and thus share the results of our work.

Having met during their studies at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, the members of the Reicha Quartet decided to establish a performance-orientated chamber group that would allow them to explore the late classical and early romantic repertoire whilst maintaining a strong emphasis on research and of the periods’ performance practices. Since then the ensemble has enjoyed performances mainly within the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, offering to its audiences a mixture of entertainment and historically informed journeys into the 18th and 19th century.

This album contains no booklet.