One of the most important figures in Russian music of the late 19th century was Sergei Taneyev, born 13 November 1856 in Vladimir, a city 200 km east of Moscow. He entered the Moscow Conservatory as a nine-year-old in 1866, shortly after it was founded. Just two years later, Nikolai Rubinstein accepted him into his class and trained him to become a first-class pianist and performer.
Taneyev also joined the harmony class of P.I. Tchaikovsky with whom he would form a lifelong friendship. Later in life, he in turn became one of the most influential teachers of the period. His numerous pupils included such diverse personalities as Rachmaninoff, Scriabin and Glière.
Taneyev was not a prolific writer. He was a seeker who listened to himself and proceeded very cautiously. He rejected everything conventional, shallow, and cheap. Just how critical he was of himself can be seen from the fact that only 36 works of his vast oeuvre, which includes symphonies, an opera, many vocal works and chamber music, were given an opus number.
These include six string quartets, two string trios and two string quintets.
He began writing his First String Quartet Op.4 in the summer of 1889. The work is dedicated to Tchaikovsky who received it enthusiastically. It was played frequently in Moscow and St Petersburg in the 1890s and performed throughout Europe by the most famous string quartet of the time, the Bohemian String Quartet. Its five-movement structure is unusual.
The Fourth String Quartet Op.11 in A minor was composed in 1898/99, after Taneyev had completed and successfully performed his Symphony in C minor. Initial reticence towards his music had turned into respectful admiration. His string quartets were praised for their high quality and performed regularly. The A minor Quartet is unique in its unity.
Through contrapuntal work, he developed a thematic network from individual motifs that covers the entire piece. But despite all the intellectual rigour, its musicality is not neglected.
The Adagio in particular, despite all its technical sophistication, captivates with its deep emotions and provides beautiful proof that Taneyev has masterfully succeeded in fusing construction and emotion.
Other information
- Recorded April 2024, Ardea, Italy
- Booklet in English contains liner notes by the quartet’s violist, Gerhard Müller, along with a biography of the ensemble
- The German liner notes are available for download at www.brilliantclassics.com
- The first volume of the recording of the complete string quartets by Sergei Taneyev!
- Sergei Taneyev (1856-1915) was one of the most important musical figures in Russia around 1900. A pupil of both Tchaikovsky and Nikolai Rubinstein he was destined to a brilliant career as a pianist (he played the first Moscow performance of Tchaikovsky’s first Piano Concerto!). However he settled as a composer and influential teacher, of Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Medtner and Glière.
- Taneyev’s style, though full bloodedly Romantic, was influenced by the Classics, particularly Beethoven and Brahms, whereas his later works saw a return to the counterpoint of no other than J.S. Bach.
- This first volume of the string quartets presents the quartets nos. 1 and 4.
- Played by the Swiss-based Rasumowsky Quartet. The Rasumowsky Quartet gained international attention with the complete recording of all fifteen string quartets by Dmitri Shostakovich on his 100th birthday in 2006. Maxim Shostakovich considers the recording “one of the best recordings of my father’s music ever”.
