String Quartet in F major KV 590
May. 16th, 2008 07:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
khiemtranThis is one of those pieces which seemed dull to me on the first listening and then suddenly 'clicked' on the second. It's one of those where I really have to make an effort to remind myself how unimpressive it sounded at first, so I can resist inflicting it on casual listeners - surely when they hear this, they'll be converted, won't they?
Like a number of the late (relatively speaking) quartets, there's a certain pattern to it that you just have to grasp and then it becomes compelling. It's almost as though there's a tune you have to get into your head and then all the other music forms a counterpoint to it. Once you've got that tune in place, there's a sense of anticipation that will work whenever you hear the piece again, the "terrible symmetry" as one commentator described it. You know what to expect, but then what you hear actually plays against it.
Like a number of the late (relatively speaking) quartets, there's a certain pattern to it that you just have to grasp and then it becomes compelling. It's almost as though there's a tune you have to get into your head and then all the other music forms a counterpoint to it. Once you've got that tune in place, there's a sense of anticipation that will work whenever you hear the piece again, the "terrible symmetry" as one commentator described it. You know what to expect, but then what you hear actually plays against it.
