Uploaded March 2023 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
00:00 I. Sonata
08:18 II. Canon
12:17 III. Cadenza
Performed by Quatuor Molinari
Source for the original recording (my personal favorite, despite cutting out slightly before the second movement): youtube.com/watch?v=hBuebCbIgpU
Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998) was a Russian composer noted for his polystylistic music, in which he juxtaposed contrasting and even contradictory musical idioms. Schnittke's first string quartet was written in 1967, just before his turn to polystylism from a more strict twelve-tone style. Nevertheless, it contains many hallmarks of his later music - sudden dynamic contrasts, spontaneity of rhythm, simple emotional rawness, and a certain irreverence that no other composer could quite replicate.
Due to the low scanning quality of the score and the condensed engraving, I have left the full pages as is instead of screenshotting parts of them.
00:00 I. Sonata
08:18 II. Canon
12:17 III. Cadenza
Performed by Quatuor Molinari
Source for the original recording (my personal favorite, despite cutting out slightly before the second movement): youtube.com/watch?v=hBuebCbIgpU
Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998) was a Russian composer noted for his polystylistic music, in which he juxtaposed contrasting and even contradictory musical idioms. Schnittke's first string quartet was written in 1967, just before his turn to polystylism from a more strict twelve-tone style. Nevertheless, it contains many hallmarks of his later music - sudden dynamic contrasts, spontaneity of rhythm, simple emotional rawness, and a certain irreverence that no other composer could quite replicate.
Due to the low scanning quality of the score and the condensed engraving, I have left the full pages as is instead of screenshotting parts of them.
