Listening to these quartets makes one regret all the more
that Ligeti did not fulfill his plan to compose a third quartet,
as
Richard Whitehouse noted in his accompanying detailed essay.
Nonetheless, one can be thankful for the two outstanding works
on this disc. They give ample evidence of a real successor to
Béla Bartók in the genre. These quartets have been
recorded a number of times, but the Parker approach these works
as if newly discovered. My first exposure to them came via the
Arditti Quartet in Sony’s Ligeti Edition, an invaluable
compendium (later taken over by Warner as the Ligeti Project)
of the vast majority of the composer’s oeuvre. I still
value the Arditti’s accounts highly, as I do those of the
younger Artemis Quartet on Virgin. Now we have the first “bargain” set
by another young group that I had not heard of before. Right
off, I will state that the Parker Quartet has nothing whatsoever
to fear from its illustrious predecessors. It was also good to
include the early Andante and Allegretto, even if it shows
little in the way of hallmarks of the mature Ligeti. The quartets
belong to two distinct stages in the composer’s life: the
first from his “Hungarian” period before he left
for the West, and the second from his more experimental years
spent in Germany. How fortunate it would have been if Ligeti
had given us an example late in his life when his compositions
became a synthesis of the experimental and the more folk-oriented
music of the earlier period. Alas, it was not to be.
The Quartet No. 1, while owing no small debt to Bartók,
has Ligeti’s identity firmly stamped on it from the beginning.
As Whitehouse points out, it is in one continuous movement that
can be divided into anywhere from four to eight sections. The
Artemis Quartet’s recording has twelve tracks for the quartet
and the Arditti eight, while the present one divides the work
into four sections. I can think of no better introduction to
Ligeti than this work, unless it be his Musica ricercata for
piano or the Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet, an adaptation
of six of the piano pieces from the former work, both written
in the period of the quartet. Indeed, Ligeti quotes the Vivace
energico from the Musica ricercata or the Presto
ruvido movement from the Bagatelles, the wind version
of that movement, just before the “one minute mark” on
the third track, following a delightfully humorous waltz. There
is much comedy typical of this composer throughout the quartet,
and the Parkers relish the humour without overdoing it. Their
many slides are more pronounced than those by the Arditti, their
pizzicati more vehement, and their pauses longer. They are obviously
having a great deal of fun with the work, whereas the Arditti
and to a lesser extent the Artemis project greater experience
with the work, not to say that either quartet is bored with it.
Having heard this quartet many times in the past, I was struck
by their sheer energy and at the same time the utter stillness
of the work’s quiet sections. They really bring out the
contrasts in the quartet better than I recall hearing before,
and their virtuosity is staggering. This may now be my favourite
account of this amazing quartet.
The Quartet No. 2 is a much tougher work to get to know. Written
in 1968 for the LaSalle Quartet, who incidentally made a famous
recording of these quartets for DG, it is in five movements and
structurally recalls Bartók. In every other way, though,
this is as representative a composition of Ligeti’s middle
period, as the Quartet No. 1 was of his first period. It begins
with loud unison pizzicato that, as Whitehouse writes, sets the
work in motion. Richard Steinitz in the definitive study on the
composer in English, György Ligeti: Music of the Imagination,
describes the quartet as “a wild zigzag trajectory catapulted
out of furious energy into a state of graceful stasis, choreographed
in five movements.” I have had the pleasure of attending
a performance of the work and can say that the visual element
is important in getting to really appreciate it. The most memorable
movement for me is the third, one of those “mechanistic” pieces
for which Ligeti is famous. It is quite similar to the third
movement, Movimento preciso e mecannico of his Chamber
Concerto. It is played mostly pizzicato, run amok, and is
microtonal and rhythmically complex. The fourth movement juxtaposes
loud, jagged chords with very quiet moments. The quartet ends
by vaporizing into nothingness, but not before a fleeting episode
of melancholy, something that would be more prevalent in Ligeti’s
late compositions. As in the earlier work, the Parkers are superb
and fully the equal of the Arditti and Artemis recordings. Their
sheer virtuosity is evident throughout this demanding work.
After the second quartet, the Andante and Allegretto comes as
quite a shock. We are now back in a much earlier period - not
only Bartókian,
but Romantic even. Yet, it is genuine Ligeti with his own brand
of Hungarian folk melody. In a way it is a nice to end the disc
with music that is simple and beautiful. One can sit back and
enjoy the warm sound of this young ensemble. They treat the work
with as much respect as the later and greater quartets.
To have these three works in such outstanding performances, recorded
in sound that is both rich and clear, and at bargain price, is
a real treat.
Leslie Wright
Parker Quartet (Daniel Chong (violin
I); Karen Kim (violin II); Jessica Bodner 
