Jacques Leguerney (1906-1997) composed two string quartets. The Premier Quatuor à cordes wascomposed in 1925 during Leguerney´s private piano and composition study with French pianist ThérèseCahen. His second quartet, subject of this publication by Musik Fabrik, was written between November1947 and September 1948.
The four movements are: I. Allegro moderato, II. Intermezzo, III. Scherzando, IV. Presto-Andantino.
This work was, in part, Leguerney´s response to the Premier Quatuor à cordes (inédit) by hiscolleague, Henri Sauguet. Leguerney stated in a personal interview with Patrick Choukroun (18 May1989) that: "I wrote it a bit in opposition to Sauguet´s Premier Quatuor. It seemed to me that hisquartet was without interest: just scratchings! I wanted to express my way of looking at it from theclassical viewpoint of the past: it is almost in the spirit of Mozart, except for the harmonic language, ofcourse. In fact, I wanted to fight against everything that has been done to a quartet since Beethoven´slast ones."
The premiere of the Quatuor à cordes en ré mineur was by the Quatuor Pro Arte at the Abbaye deRoyaumont. Before this performance, Poulenc sent Leguerney the following note: "Fortunate man forwhom twelve strings are enough to charm people, I wish you good luck and respectfully embrace you."(Handwritten letter, Reims, 4 September 1959).
Leguerney was appointed artistic director of the Lumen recording company in 1951, and remained inthis position until 1959. He produced four recordings of his music, including the Quatuor Pro Arte´srecording of the Quatuor à cordes en ré mineur (1947-1948) (Lumen, LD 2.440, 1958). This disc wonthe Grand Prix du Disque de l´Académie Charles Cros on 13 March 1959. The Pro Arte´s memberswere Suzanne Plazonich, Violin I, Chantal Beylier, Violin II, Nicole Gendreau, Viola, and MichelineBurtin, Cello.