Solem Quartet
Bosmans: String Quartet
Beethoven: String Quartet op 135
N. Boulanger: Three Pieces arr.Tress
Debussy: String Quartet
Henriëtte Bosmans: String Quartet
Allegro molto moderato; Lento; Allegro molto
The career of brilliant Dutch pianist and composer Henriëtte Bosmans (1895-1952) was stopped in its tracks by the Nazi Occupation of Holland during the Second World War. Though Bosmans herself was not religious, her mother was Jewish, and she was openly bisexual, having been in a relationship with cellist and conductor Frieda Belinfante from 1920-27. In 1942, Bosmans’ compositions were banned by the Dutch National Broadcasting Organisation and she was forbidden from giving public concerts. These had become her main source of income since 1934, when her fiancé of just a few months, violinist Francis Koene, had died from a brain tumour; her creativity remained stifled by grief for many years.
With her livelihood out of reach, suffering from hunger, and with her aged mother having been arrested and deported, Bosmans continued to risk everything by giving illegal performances during the war. Between 1946 and her death from stomach cancer in 1952, she resumed performing and became increasingly interested in song composition, which is a topic mentioned frequently in her lively correspondence with Benjamin Britten from this time.
Bosmans’ early education came from her mother, pianist Sarah Benedicts; her father Henri Bosmans, principal cellist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, had died when she was just six months old. She rose to prominence as a concert pianist in the 1920s and 30s, performing alongside conductors such as Sir Adrian Boult and George Szell and giving many chamber recitals. Early compositions – including many featuring the cello and premiered by her then-partner, Belinfante – are Romantic in style, but she soon developed a more distinctive, twentieth-century voice, influenced by her neighbour and teacher, the composer Willem Pijper (1894-1947).
Bosmans’ String Quartet was composed in 1927. A stark pentatonic melody introduces the first movement, before we are thrown headlong into the drama. Impressionistic harmonic language and melodies inflected with whole-tone scales might recall Debussy and Ravel, but in the swirl of musical textures and quick-fire exchange of dialogue across the ensemble, the first movement bears closer similarity to the two string quartets of Janáček, composed in 1923 and 1928.
The second movement, Lento, is fragile and introspective. A swaying accompaniment lifts the music towards a high cello solo with violins floating far above. The final movement is propulsive, with its opening and closing sections dominated by a militaristic, galloping rhythm – though this figure recedes to the background as we take a detour through the sultry middle section, featuring sighing glissandi (slides between notes) and dreamy harmonies.
Bosmans notes by Anthony Friend
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): String Quartet in F major, Op 135(1826)
Allegretto; Vivace; Lento assai, cantante e tranquillo; Grave ma non troppo tratto – Allegro
Beethoven’s Op 135 String Quartet is his final completed major work. It is part of the late quartets, a group of ground-breaking compositions that pushed the boundaries of form, harmony and expression. Of the five quartets in this group, Op 135 has a lighter, more concise character, yet it remains profound in its introspection. The Quartet was written in 1826 at his brother’s country estate, where Beethoven and his nephew Karl had taken refuge after Karl’s attempted suicide. It was, needless to say, a difficult time, but the Quartet is such a congenial and fun-loving work that it is fashionable to regard it as a sort of regression to Beethoven’s 18th-century roots, which is a common misconception about almost any later Beethoven work that isn’t full of thunderbolts. This quartet encapsulates Beethoven’s ability to blend simplicity with depth, humour with gravitas, and form with innovation.
The first movement, an Allegretto, has a serene and playful opening with a conversational quality between the instruments. The movement contrasts simplicity and subtle complexity. The form adheres to a sonata structure, but Beethoven infuses it with unpredictability and wit.
The second movement, a Scherzo marked Vivace, is rife with rhythmic jokes likely to convince players that they are counting wrongly. The four parts tug at each other in four different rhythms or get together to run up and down and stop for no good reason. The central contrasting Trio section provides a lyrical respite.
Then the ridiculous gives way to the sublime; a placid, seamless slow movement consisting of three variations of a softly rolling theme. The third movement is marked Lento assai, cantante e tranquillo (very slow, singing and peaceful), and is meditative, profound and reminiscent of a hymn. It has been described as a moment of reflection, touching on themes of peace and resignation.
The final movement begins with a sombre introduction (Grave, ma non troppo tratto) which then proceeds to an animated Allegro. At the top of the movement, Beethoven wrote the words “Der schwer gefasste Entschluss” (the decision reached with difficulty, or the difficult resolution). Beneath the three-note motif of the slow introduction he inscribed the words “Muss es sein?” (Must it be?) and for the two three-note motifs that make up the Allegro’s principal theme he wrote the words “Es muss sein! Es muss sein!” (it must be! It must be!). This motto has occasioned much speculation. Its roots may lie in a story about Ignaz Dembscher, who put on chamber music events in his Vienna house and normally attended the subscription concerts of the Schuppanzigh Quartet, which premiered Beethoven’s later quartets. Dembscher was normally allowed to use Beethoven’s manuscripts for his house concerts, but when he asked for the score of the Opus 130 quartet after having not subscribed to the concert in which it was first played, he was told he would first have to pay the fee for the missed concert – to which he wryly replied “Muss es sein?’ Beethoven immediately wrote a canon for four voices to the words “It must be! Yes, take out your wallet!” to a theme recognizably the same as the “Es muss sein” theme of the Op 135 finale.Beethoven gave a different explanation in a letter to his publisher Moritz Schlesinger “Here, my dear friend, is my last quartet. It will be the last; indeed , it has given me much trouble. For I could not bring myself to compose the last movement. But as your letters were reminding me of it, in the end I decided to compose it. And that is the reason I have written the motto “The decision taken with difficulty – Must it be? – It must be!”
Nadia Boulanger (1887–1979) Arr. Amy Tress: Three Pieces
Modéré; Sans vitesse et à l’aise; Vite et nerveusement rythmé
Three Pieces(1914) were originally for cello and piano (and you will have heard them played recently in Bollington by Laura van der Heijden and Tom Poster). They are exquisite examples of her compositional voice, blending French Impressionism with her unique sensitivity to form and texture. The arrangement by Amy Tress adapts these works for the string quartet, offering fresh perspectives on their timeless charm.
Boulanger composed these miniatures during the early stages of her career, before turning her focus to teaching and conducting. The pieces reflect her deep understanding of harmonic colour and melodic subtlety. The pieces bear the hallmarks of French Impressionism (influences from Debussy and Fauré) but also hint at her personal, introspective style.
By adapting these pieces for the quartet, Amy Tress brings out new dimensions of texture and interplay while honouring the intimacy of Boulanger’s originals.
Each of the Three Pieces is distinct in mood and form:
The first (Modéré) is lyrical with a flowing, contemplative melody. The lines unfold with a sense of quiet introspection, accompanied by rich harmonic colours. The piece balances restraint with emotional depth, a hallmark of Boulanger’s style.
The second (Sans vitesse et à l’aise) is intimate and tender, characterized by a sense of stillness and simplicity. Its slow, sustained lines evoke a timeless, almost spiritual quality.
The final piece (Vite et nerveusement rythmé) bursts with energy and dynamism. Playful rhythms and rapid exchanges create a lively, animated character, showcasing Boulanger’s ability to capture contrasting moods within a short span.
Amy Tress’s arrangement expands the accessibility of these works, allowing audiences to experience their beauty through a new lens. These pieces remind us of Boulanger’s place not just as a teacher but as a creator of poignant and evocative music.
Claude Debussy (1862-1918): String Quartet in G minor op 10
Animé et très décidé: Assez vif et bien rythmé: Andantino, doucement expressif: Très modéré – En animant peu à peu – Très mouvementé et avec passion
Debussy’s only string quartet premiered in 1893, ten years before Ravel’s and thirty years before Fauré’s, who might have been as terrified of theirs as he was of Beethoven’s. The 31 year old Debussy’s work certainly took the musical world by storm and reactions were mixed. Pierre Boulez regarded Debussy as the first truly modern composer, who finally freed music from constraints of form and harmony. Although it’s in the traditional four movements, with the scherzo placed second, all of them are very flexible in form and tempo: they recycle and transform melodies much as Berlioz, Liszt, Wagner and Franck had done. Compare Debussy’s tempo markings with Fauré’s. It’s not just that they’re in French. They point to what traditionalists would have considered over the top self-indulgence. The arresting opening is just about in G minor, but F natural and A flat pervade the sound world. A singing melody, first on violin 1 and then cello, is accompanied by restless, chromatic semiquavers from the other three. Like Fauré, there are plenty of dynamic markings, but there are also many indicating changes of tempo, including Tempo rubato – an instruction to vary the rhythm for expressive purposes, something easier to achieve on a solo instrument – as Chopin does. Near the end of the movement the time signature changes from 4/4 to 6/4, the speed increases, and a dramatic conclusion in a modal form of G minor (ie without any expected F sharps) is reached. In the scherzo, pizzicato chords introduce the viola, transforming a now familiar melody. The viola persists with this while the accompaniment features more pizzicato and triplet quavers clashing with duplet ones: a device Brahms was very fond of. The material is shared out more equally before what might be a trio section. But in Debussy’s hands this is nothing like the expected form: melodies, textures and dynamics are constantly changing and surprising us. There isn’t even an official return to the opening music before the mercurial ending. Mutes are required for the slow movement, marked very moderate (in tempo!) and sweetly expressive. Ostensibly in D flat major – as far from G minor as possible – the theme, again a transformation of an earlier one, has a Russian flavour to it. Debussy’s patroness in the 1880’s had been Nadezhda von Meck, better known for her support of Tchaikovsky. The livelier music that ensues features whole tone melodies before the opening theme returns but transformed and enriched, before the movement ends with another “excessive” marking: as pianissimo as possible. The finale begins with the cello and then others in rhapsodic vein as if wondering where to go. But after a chord in the remote key of E major, a faster rhythmic phrase derived from the very opening melody begins on the cello and soon builds. There are frequent changes of tempo, mood and texture as the themes are further explored. The music ebbs and flows like the sea that so obsessed its composer. The excitement and the speed build until a bar of 19 ascending semiquavers from violin 1 lead to triumphant G major chords. Debussy wrote that “Any sounds in any combination and in any succession are henceforth free to be used in a musical continuity,” and yet this quartet is surely as closely argued as any, a kaleidoscopic feast that draws on a relatively small amount of very distinctive material.
Debussy notes by Donald Judge