Article: Review of ‘’Mahler String

Quartet in A minor’’. 1st Movement by

Borodin Quartet.
By Miguel Ángel Cánovas de Lucas.

This unfinished quartet, composed in 1876, when Gustav Mahler was 16, is written for piano,
violin, viola and cello. The interpretation of the first movement lasts around twelve minutes.

On the work we can see what kind of music and which composers inspired young Mahler: the
romantic and postromantic masters as Beethoven, Brahms, Wagner or Bruckner. True to them,
Mahler write this type of music, apparently calm and intimate, but that generates tension and
restlessness as it progresses.

The piece begins with an introduction dominated by the piano, a rhythmic but calm melody to
which the strings are joined, being the violin increasingly important, generating a climate of
more and more anxiety until leading to the main motive of the movement.

The exposition consists of two main themes: in the first, the tension created in the final part of
the introduction reaches its climax; the strings are ripped together while the piano performs a
counterpoint trying to regroup the ensemble.

When, with a group of triplets, he manages to silence the strings, the second theme begins;
the violin and the cello sing a melody full of lyricism over the piano accompaniment, following
entries, questions and answers as if it were a Bach invention.

The theme dissolves in the air and merges with the chords of the introduction, from which the
entire first part is repeated.

The development consists of several episodes; in the first one the main motive of the
introduction is squeezed, sounding first in the strings in unison and, later, alternating
entrances of these; all while the piano accompanies repeated chords, also taken from the
introduction. The first episode ends by increasing the tension to lead to the second.

In this episode (shorter than the first) Mahler uses the lyrical motif of the second theme of the
exhibition but much more energetic, stronger and fierier. It also uses it to modulate and travel
at more or less close keys.

The third and final episode of the development is the most extensive and uses the first motif
for the exhibition. The violin repeats the motif again and again at different heights and in
different keys, but always in a very intense and passionate way; Meanwhile, the piano and the
other strings accompany and generate counterpoint, bringing the music to a morendo that
ends in the recapitulation.

The recapitulation has slight variances with respect to the exhibition, the most notable being
the cadence of the violin and the posterior coda in which the music seems to move away and
turn off like the light at sunset; extinguishing like the last embers of a fire in a dim room.
The interpretation of the Borodin quartet seems especially good to me. The tempo I think is
the exact one, with the accelerandos and ritardandos at the right time. The nuances are very
well contrasted, and the expressiveness is breath-taking. I think it is very close (if not full) to
what Mahler originally imagined in composing such beautiful music.

Both Mahler and the Borodin quartet express very well the meaning and feeling of music and
the era in which the work is composed. A seemingly dark, somewhat sad music, typical of the
German sturm und drang; but not without strength and hope. Nevertheless, I am not sure if
the piece speaks of hope of living or hope after death. An ideal theme and soundtrack, as it
was, for a great movie like ‘Shutter Island’ by Martin Scorsese.