This week's selection for The Gaggle Music Club is Anton Arensky’s String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, Op. 35. Composed in 1894, shortly after the death of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1893, the work is explicitly dedicated to Tchaikovsky’s memory and was composed as a musical tribute to Arensky's late mentor.

At the time of composition, Arensky had recently left his post as a professor at the Moscow Conservatory, where he had been a student of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and later a colleague of Sergei Taneyev and Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov. Moving to St. Petersburg, Arensky took a position as director of the Imperial Chapel Choir, and this influence is evident in the Russian Orthodox chant that is discernible late in the quartet.

One of the most striking aspects of this quartet is its unconventional instrumentation: instead of the standard two violins, viola and cello, Arensky scored it for violin, viola and two cellos. This unusual choice gives the piece a darker, more somber tone, befitting a requiem-like tribute to Tchaikovsky.

The quartet is in three movements, rather than in the traditional four.

The first movement is built upon a theme borrowed from Tchaikovsky—specifically, his song Legend (No. 5 from 16 Songs for Children, Op. 54). Arensky presents the theme in a solemn and hymn-like fashion, followed by a series of variations, each offering a different character and instrumental texture.

The second movement is a scherzo, and features rapid figurations, mostly in the violin and viola, with pizzicato accompaniment in the cellos. It is not hard to recognize an underlying Russian folk influence, something that is typical of Arensky’s style.

The final movement is marked Adagio and begins as an elegy, emphasizing deep mourning. Arensky incorporates chant-like passages, reminiscent of Russian Orthodox church music. The music gradually builds in intensity, concluding with a final, solemn farewell.

The String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor stands out as one of Arensky’s most profound and serious compositions, displaying a depth of emotion and structural ingenuity that is often absent in his lighter works. Critics argue that the quartet highlights Arensky’s position as a transitional composer between Tchaikovsky’s lyrical romanticism and the more modern Russian school led by Rimsky-Korsakov and his pupils (such as Stravinsky and Prokofiev).

This performance of Anton Arensky's Quartet No. 2 in A minor, op. 35, from Oct. 23, 2022, is played by strings of the WDR Sinfonieorchester.