Melos Quartet
I. Lento - Allegro [0:00]
II. Lento [10:09]
III. Scherzo. Allegro assai [18:51]
IV. Finale. Allegro vivace [22:08]
[...] The Second Quartet started life as Cherubini's only symphony in D major, written in 1815 for the London Philharmonic Society. When he transformed it in 1829 into his C major Quartet, he kept the first, third and fourth movements though he made some small but important changes to enhance the music's flow (for example, the symphony's 'Menuetto. Allegro non tanto' became the quartet's 'Scherzo. Allegro assai').
[...] But what was wrong with the symphony's second movement? Although the comparison might appear far-fetched, it could have been Cherubini's 'Blumine' experience that provoked him to rethink his work. As is well known, Gustav Mahler discarded the second movement of his First Symphony entitled 'Blumine', because a few years after its premiere in 1889 he realized its blandness compared with the other movements.»
- Micheal Fend
