Like a rebellious teenager told to get a more conservative haircut, Beethoven was asked to replace the “Grosse Fuge,” the spiky final movement to his String Quartet in B flat (Op. 130), with something less radical. He grumbled but eventually agreed, substituting an easygoing finale for the original, whose cacophonous thickets had disturbed 19th-century listeners.
Emerson String Quartet がBeethoven op.130&133 [音楽時評]
Beethoven は，String Quartet op.130 を，最初は，終楽章に“Grosse Fuge” を置いていたのですが，その長大さが受け入れられず，平板な Finale を書いて置換したのでした．
しかし，この現代音楽に通ずる“Grosse Fuge”を後にop.133として独立させたばかりか，同じ曲のピアノDuo版を書いて，ピアノ作品最後のop.134 としたのです．
有名なEmerson String Quartet が，Alice Tally Hallでの演奏会で，プログラム前半にop.130 の終楽章だけを演奏し，後半に，op.13０＋１３３ の形で，オリジナルなop.130を演奏したそうです．
演奏会では，
Mozart’s Adagio and Fugue in C minor (K. 546).
Mozart’s String Quartet in B flat (K. 589, “Prussian”)
Beethoven’s well-behaved alternate finale to Opus 130
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Beethoven's op.130 with Grosse Fuge
の形で演奏されたそうです．
Stravinsky, a fan of the “Grosse Fuge,” described it as an “absolutely contemporary piece of music that will be contemporary forever．と賞賛していたといわれます．
The sharp edges of the fugue are preceded by the haunting Cavatina, one of the most beautiful movements in the chamber repertory, performed here with heartfelt poise and expressive commitment.
と評しているように，室内楽のレパートリーの中で，最も美しい楽章といわれる”Cavatina”が前に置かれることで，その夜の演奏会は素晴らしかったと高評しています．
Music Review
String Quartet Classics With Alternative Endings
Emerson String Quartet at Alice Tully Hall
By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER
Published: April 5, 2012
The “Grosse Fuge” was later published separately as Opus 133. Some contemporary ensembles perform the quartet with the original, while others use the sunny substitute. At its concert on Wednesday evening at Alice Tully Hall, the Emerson String Quartet offered both: playing the alternate ending by itself in the first half of the program and the “Grosse Fuge” with the Opus 130 quartet after intermission.
The concert, the second in a series of three exploring the late quartets of Mozart and Beethoven, opened with Mozart’s Adagio and Fugue in C minor (K. 546). Mozart, who studied Bach’s contrapuntal techniques, wrote arrangements of some of his fugues for Sunday afternoon gatherings at the Vienna home of Baron Gottfried van Swieten, a diplomat and musical connoisseur. Mozart also composed a few original fugues, like the somber K. 546, which received a soulful and suitably dark-hued rendition here.
Next came Mozart’s String Quartet in B flat (K. 589, “Prussian”), given a polished but not particularly involving interpretation, which lacked the essential warmth inherent in such a genial work. The lighthearted mood continued with Beethoven’s well-behaved alternate finale to Opus 130, a Haydnesque piece as gracious and airy as the “Grosse Fuge” is dense and severe.
Stravinsky, a fan of the “Grosse Fuge,” described it as an “absolutely contemporary piece of music that will be contemporary forever.” Even on repeated hearings, its angular edges and jarring counterpoint still sound revolutionary, as they did in the Emerson’s vigorous rendition.
The sharp edges of the fugue are preceded by the haunting Cavatina, one of the most beautiful movements in the chamber repertory, performed here with heartfelt poise and expressive commitment.
