Raynaldo Hahn: String Quartet No.1 in A minor

Описание: Raynaldo Hahn [1874-1947]
String Quartet No.1 in A minor [1939]
1. Andante molto moderato
2. Récit et chanson de Provence (Lent - Allegretto grazioso) 10:04
3. Andantino 12:38
4. Allegro Assai 17:00

Performed by the Esposito Quartet
Mia Cooper, violin
Anna Cashell, violin
Joachim Roewer, viola
William Butt, cello

Birr Theatre, Ireland, 24th October 2025

Composed in 1939, Reynaldo Hahn’s first string quartet, in A minor, was premiered on 1 January 1940 by the Quatuor Calvet. The work was influenced by the revival of the quartet genre in France since World War One. Its allusion to ancient models also places it within an aesthetic movement characteristic of the interwar period, commonly described as “neoclassical”, whose leading exponents included Igor Stravinsky, Erik Satie and Maurice Ravel.

The first movement, in sonata form, contrasts two opposing themes. The first, in A minor with an andante tempo marking, is introduced softly by the violin, then the viola, over a parallel chord accompaniment by the three other instruments. Based on an energetic dotted motif, the second theme is stated forte (loudly) and allegro assai (very fast) by the first violin. The work also includes references to an older musical past in the form of the instrumental dance suite, a typical genre during the French Ancien Régime (before the 1789 revolution): the skipping rhythms of the Chanson de Provence recall the Courante, a lively dance which would often follow the more elegant Allemande. Underpinned by a slower dotted figure, the Andantino brings to mind, albeit more obliquely, the Sarabande, the noblest and most solemn dance in the instrumental suite. Finally, the Allegro Assai forms a merry rondeau recalling the lively rhythms of the first movement.

Despite bearing the stamp of the aesthetics of its time, Hahn’s first quartet offers a synthesis between eclectic references to the history of music and a highly personal style gradually forged by the composer in earlier works, particularly in the field of chamber music.

Note by Centre de musique romantique française