MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

AVAILABILITY
Buywell.com

 

Jean SIBELIUS (1865-1957)
String Quartet in D minor, Op. 56 'Voces Intimae' (1908) [33:07]
Frederick DELIUS (1862-1934)

String Quartet (1916) [27:39]
Sonata in one movement for Cello and Piano (1916) [12:25]
Fitzwilliam String Quartet (Christopher Rowland (violin I); Jonathan Sparey (violin II); Alan George (viola); Ioan Davies (cello))
George Isaac (cello); Martin Jones (piano)
rec. The Maltings, Concert Hall, Snape, December 1978 (L'Oiseau-Lyre DSLO 47) (Quartets); University College, Cardiff, October 1971, (Argo ZRG 727) (sonata). ADD.
DECCA ELOQUENCE 442 9486 [73:27]
Experience Classicsonline




The quartet performances here were classics of the LP catalogue and it will delight many that they return now in such virile analogue sound. And ‘virile’ is the word. Both artists and engineers are of the same mind. The end result is performances and recordings that "ply the saplings double" – and not just saplings. The Fitzwilliam pour on the power in the Sibelius. This is certainly impressive stuff with a towering impact that goes beyond what one would expect from a mere four string instruments. Other more recent recordings will have more variation in dynamic and more delicacy; Bis and Finlandia – the latter with the New Helsinki [review]. As yet the Fitzwilliams are unmatched if you prize potency, piled-high intensity and close-up lapel-grabbing sound. You can hear distant traffic rumble right at the beginning of the Sibelius. We are prepared for the thirty year old recordings by the front-cover photograph with the quartet resplendent in the long collar shirts and jackets and hair-cuts of that era.

The Delius is just as closely miked – right in the thick of it! This work evinces more give and take but is ‘flown’ just as hard as the Sibelius. Some Delians may find it all too tense and unremitting. Personally I find this approach a breath of fresh air. From the same year comes the Cello Sonata. It was written - as was the Cello Concerto - for Alexander Barjansky. It is a work with a glowingly rounded and generous-hearted sunset lyricism. This is well put across by Isaac and Jones without the radiance and cohesive coherence achieved by Julian Lloyd-Webber. The sound is from 1971 and this too is evident.

While one small error in the notes is irritating – it is Evlyn Howard-Jones not Evelyn – the work of Alan George and Raymond Tuttle is excellent. Worth passing on that Eric Fenby who with Barjansky played the Delius sonata to the composer assisted the Fitzwilliam in preparing for the recording sessions as did Sidney Griller with the composer’s own metronome markings for the Sibelius.

Powerhouse performances of three little known works. You may find it just a shade too much in the Delius pieces.

Rob Barnett


 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.