Why did Schubert never continue his Quartettsatz<\/i> D703? Did he get distracted? Run out of inspiration? Or was he prescient enough to think ‘One day people will be able to preserve performances on a medium lasting about an hour, and they’ll need something to fill up the time after one of my other works’? Because that’s how it ended up being used. <\/p>\n
Our collection of LPs includes no fewer than five recordings of this work (although the two by the Smetana Quartet are probably the same). It’s a filler for Death and the Maiden<\/i>, the Trout Quintet<\/i>, the Quartet D87, Dvo\u0159\u00e1k’s quintet op. 81 and Dvo\u0159\u00e1k’s Quartet op. 105\/Terzetto op. 74. <\/p>\n
Some works just lend themselves to being used as fillers. We have two accounts of Beethoven’s Leonore<\/i> overture no. 3 (both on recordings of one of his symphonies). And two each of Dvo\u0159\u00e1k’s Scherzo capriccioso<\/i> and his overture ‘My Home’. The classic filler lasts about 10 minutes.<\/p>\n
However, you don’t get the filler so much on CDs. It’s that extra 20 minutes on the disc. There are many more works that last just under the hour than just over it, and that leaves room for a more substantial piece lasting 20-25 minutes or so, which hardly counts as a filler.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Why did Schubert never continue his Quartettsatz D703? Did he get distracted? Run out of inspiration? Or was he prescient enough to think ‘One day people will be able to preserve performances on a medium lasting about an hour, and … Continue reading