Gade String Quartet no 1 in D major op 63
Copenhagen string quartet
This was a lovely piece. Quite short and understated but a real pleasure to listen to. Gade was Danish but I can't say I detected any Nordic influences. This was a very much characteristic of the Leipzig school with Mendelssohn and Schumann the obvious influences. This is hardly surprising as Gade conducted the first performances of both the Mendelssohn violin concerto and the Schumann piano concerto.
The music flows freely and without any obvious effort - the scherzo second movement was particularly enjoyable with fast semi-quaver interchanges between pairs of instruments - it must be fun to play. The coda was very neat and raised a smile. Perhaps only the last movement was a slight let down. It was the most symphonic of the four movement and there was perhaps a feeling that Gade thought that he should 'up his game' and show how serious a musician he was. I don't think that there was any need for that and at times the music did seem a bit strained. But all in all a work I was very happy to have heard. I don't think that I have heard any Gade before. His music does turn up in second-hand bookshops occasionally as his oratorio The Earl King's Daughter did have quite a vogue in Victorian England. His overture based on Ossian is supposed to be worth hearing so perhaps I will dig that out.
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