Carl Nielsen - String Quartet No. 2 in F minor, Op. 5 (1/3)

String Quartet No. 2 in F minor (1890)

I. Allegro non troppo ma energico

A beautiful, energetic string quartet by Danish composer Carl Nielsen (1865-1931). Nielsen published four "official" string quartets as a series (Opp. 13, 5, 14 and 44), with this work listed second. However, he had composed two earlier quartets in his conservatory days. In reality, the second string quartet he composed is the Quartet in F (c.1887), which can be found on my channel.

According to Nielsen, the main theme of the first movement of the quartet in F minor appeared to him suddenly while traveling in a crowded Copenhagen tram. Composing the second movement was quite an ordeal for him, since he was not pleased until he rewrote it three times. The work was to be premiered in a private performance in Berlin for the famous violinist Joseph Joachim. Nielsen described the rehearsal process as follows: "We had held five rehearsals and yet it still sounded very mediocre; it is extremely difficult to play well, since there are so many modulations, often enharmonic affairs that have to be played so cleanly that half the difficulty would have been enough. If you add to this the fear of playing for Joachim, you can imagine that it did not go all that well." Joachim had a mixed reaction to the work, praising the composer for his "imagination and talent" but suggesting substantial changes, which Nielsen declined to accept.

Here, the work is performed by the Danish Quartet.

The painting in the background by Swedish artist Edward Rosenberg is called "Solnedgång i vinterlandskap."