4.Andante du 8e Quatour, after Mozart's String Quartet K.464

By choosing to transcribe the Andante from Mozart's String Quartet in A, K. 464, Alkan approaches the tradition he idolized in a form raised to a power, so to speak, for this work is the fifth of the six so-called Haydn quartets dedicated by Mozart to Haydn with the grateful acknowledgement of having derived much from the study of the older man's works. Moreover, the extensive Andante, rather than following the first-movement Allegro, comes after the Minuet and thus encloses the expressive apex of the work. In Canto Eleven of Don Juan, Byron describes his protagonist, "But Juan was a bachelor-of arts/And parts, and hearts: he danced and sung, and had/An air as sentimental as Mozart's/softest of melodies...." The endearing, gavotte-like theme of this Andante could well be what Byron had in mind, while the series of variations visited upon it distill a quintessential sweetness set off by the muted suggestion of a fanfare. Alkan's transcription of the Finale of Haydn's "Lark" Quartet, Op. 64/5, had already appeared in his second series of transcriptions, Souvenirs des Concerts du Conservatoire, published by Richault in 1861. A transcription of the Minuet from the second of Haydn's Op. 76 quartets—a further token of Alkan's veneration—was published with the present arrangement in the collection of Souvenirs de Musique de Chambre issued by Richault in 1866. In a revealing preface to the first collection of Souvenirs des Concerts du Conservatoire (Brandus, 1847), Alkan laid down his principles for transcription, "In a word, this art lies in making everything heard, knowing which parts to bring out and how to do it..." through "a perfect knowledge of those effects, timbres, and 'illusions' of voices...that are made possible by the peculiar sonorities of the modern piano; for these sonorities are wide-ranging if one knows how to obtain them through various methods of attack, through the intelligent use of certain fingerings, hand crossing, etc." These things are in abundant evidence throughout Alkan's rendering of the Andante with the crossed hands maintaining the persistent tug of the fanfare as the melody rises into the treble. Complete finger independence, precision, the easy reach of a tenth, and delicacy of touch are sine qua non to sustain the piece's courtly air of sotto voce effusiveness. Some inner parts are divided between the thumbs, but overall, it gratifyingly lies within the grasp of the competent amateur.

© All Music Guide