The last of Brahms’ three quartets eventually became his favorite. Written in 1875 while Brahms was working on his first symphony, the String Quartet in B-flat, Op. 67 achieves a sureness of quartet writing and a bright buoyancy of mood and rhythmic vitality. The quartet opens with a bounding theme suggestive of hunting horns that soon become delightfully entangled in cross rhythms, a telltale Brahms signature of two against three found throughout his oeuvre.
A spirited theme and variations finale begins with a similar mood and pulse, a fresh theme in a canter rising up, curiously complimentary to the hunting theme falling down. Indeed, towards the end of the variation set, the initial hunting party comes galloping right into the finale where Brahms applies countermelody and variation so that both the first and final themes combine and blend in a marvelous instance of cyclical, retrospective synergy and closure.
Between these lively outer movements, Brahms writes a deeply stirring andante and a suave, mysteriously wistful allegretto. The second movement andante begins as a warm cantilena for the first violin, a lied or a familiar Brahms intermezzo. A contrasting section seems to thrust a rugged mountain vista into the picture, softened again by reverent chorale strains, another jagged peak, a lonely valley and then, a final blossoming meadow as the lush lyricism returns, enriched with a breadth and cadence of majestic repose. The third movement allegretto is marked agitato, a delicate but whirling waltz with swells and waves suggesting a fast, watery barcarole. The viola leads throughout, frequently in strong relief against the muted trio.
Written when Brahms was 42, it seems curious, if not disappointing, that this third quartet would become his last. Why didn’t he ever return to the string quartet again? It is equally thought provoking that the self-critical Brahms wrote but destroyed several other previous quartets as well.
