String Quartet Month

In January, I started a project to go along with my Beethoven Sonata project, I am listening to a String Quartet a day. Every month will be a new genre of piece. My February is already programmed for an Instrumental Sonata for every day. Here is a list for January.

1. Jan 1: Haydn - String Quartet Op. 33, No. 2 "The Joke"

2. Jan 2: Mozart - String Quartet No. 19 in C major, K. 465 "Dissonance"

3. Jan 3: Beethoven - String Quartet No. 4 in C minor, Op. 18

4. Jan 4: Beethoven - String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 131

5. Jan 5: Haydn - String Quartet Op. 76, No. 3 "Emperor"

6. Jan 6: Schubert - String Quartet No. 13 in A minor, D. 804 "Rosamunde"

7. Jan 7: Schubert - String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, D. 810 "Death and the Maiden"

Week 2: Romantic Explorations

8. Jan 8: Mendelssohn - String Quartet No. 6 in F minor, Op. 80

9. Jan 9: Brahms - String Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 51, No. 1

10. Jan 10: Brahms - String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 51, No. 2

11. Jan 11: Dvořák - String Quartet No. 12 in F major, Op. 96 "American"

12. Jan 12: Borodin - String Quartet No. 2 in D major

13. Jan 13: Tchaikovsky - String Quartet No. 1 in D major, Op. 11

14. Jan 14: Smetana - String Quartet No. 1 in E minor "From My Life"

Week 3: 20th Century Masterpieces

15. Jan 15: Debussy - String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10

16. Jan 16: Ravel - String Quartet in F major

17. Jan 17: Bartók - String Quartet No. 4

18. Jan 18: Shostakovich - String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110

19. Jan 19: Prokofiev - String Quartet No. 1 in B minor, Op. 50

20. Jan 20: Janáček - String Quartet No. 2 "Intimate Letters"

21. Jan 21: Britten - String Quartet No. 2 in C major, Op. 36

Week 4: Diverse Styles and Modern Gems

22. Jan 22: Villa-Lobos - String Quartet No. 6

23. Jan 23: Carter - String Quartet No. 1

24. Jan 24: Ligeti - String Quartet No. 1 "Metamorphoses nocturnes"

25. Jan 25: Ginastera - String Quartet No. 1, Op. 20

26. Jan 26: Barber - String Quartet in B minor, Op. 11 (featuring the "Adagio for Strings")

. Jan 27: Philip Glass - String Quartet No. 3 "Mishima"

28. Jan 28: George Crumb - Black Angels

Week 5: Return to Classics

29. Jan 29: Beethoven - String Quartet No. 9 in C major, Op. 59, No. 3 "Rasumovsky" P

30. Jan 30: Haydn - String Quartet Op. 20, No. 4 in D major

31, Jan 31st Beethoven String Quartet no.1 in F Major, op.18

This has been an enlightening experience. I find that as I am at a different part of my life, I find it freeing not to have to play to survive and make money. I do 1 or 2 higher paying jobs and spend the rest of my time playing and practicing music that I want to learn. Thus, the Beethoven project remains strong. Along, with my daily practice, my daily listening and of course, reading has grown in such a profound way. Life is too short to be listening, learning, and playing music that doesn’t serve my growth as a musician.

Practice on the Beethoven 6th sonata in F Major, op. 10, no. 2 has been enlightening. I am preferring a slower more deliberate tempo. I had been playing at a brisker tempo for the humorous, quasi “haydnesque” quality in the music. As I really get to know the music, a relaxed but still Allegro tempo is correct for the musical line. I must remind myself that the musical line is always of the utmost importance. It still has the humor and lightness but has the Beethoven line that cant be denied.This is fast becoming one of my favorites.