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CHAMBER MUSIC FOR STRINGS

The works on this disc span nearly forty years of Zemlinsky's output. They document his stylistic development: the spirit of early Viennese Classicism with which he had been brought up; the influences of the Second Viennese School headed by his pupil and friend Arnold Schoenberg; the experimentation with new trends and techniques in the 1920s such as the irregular metres of Stravinsky and the polytonality of Milhaud; the lean and brittle textures of his later work, such as the String Quartet No. 4.

CHAN 9772(2)

The works also reflect the tumultuous nature of his personal life, from his String Quartet No. 1, written in the key of A major, Zemlinsky's key of joy, through the String Quartet No. 2, in which Zemlinsky felt the need to relive the traumatic events of the past decade which included the death of his father, his sister's desertion of her husband, Arnold Schoenberg, for her lover, and the end of an affair of his own, as well as a number of career setbacks. Zemlinsky's later work is characterised by the composer’s search for a post-romantic synthesis of form and expression. His work is exquisitely crafted and several of his works, especially his String Quartets Nos 2 and 3, are outstanding examples of the progressive music of their time.