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Edvard GRIEG (1841-1907)
String Quartet No. 1 in G minor Op. 17 (1877) [34.30]
String Quartet No. 2 in F major (comp. Levon Chilingirian) (1891) [29.46]
Chilingirian Quartet
rec. 8-10 December 1998, St.George’s, Brandon Hill, Bristol
HYPERION HELIOS CDH55299 [64.25]

A good coupling, the two Grieg Quartets. Really though, it’s only one and half quartets because the composer never managed to complete the second despite the fact that the first two movements date from sixteen years before his death. I suspect it was because he realised that in the First Quartet he had written an impassioned masterpiece and that he probably could not exceed his achievements and also not repeat the formula. It’s the opening, twelve minute movement that is especially remarkable, for a composer often associated with miniatures, or ‘bon-bons stuffed with snow’.
 
The inspiration in this work never wanes. The opening Allegro has an adagio introduction of considerable power. The movement is in sonata-form with a memorable first subject and a completely contrasting, meltingly tuneful second subject. These which constitute by far the longest section of the quartet are successfully woven into a convincing whole and remind us that Grieg is not just a pretty miniaturist and. There are several passages which remind me of melodies and indeed rhythms found in the finale of the famous piano concerto, completed only the year before. The second movement is marked ‘Romance’, but has contrasting tempi including an allegro agitato which reappears. The third is an Intermezzo marked Allegro and but which is also indicated as a scherzando. There’s also a delightful trio section. The finale is marked Presto al Salterello with a Lento introduction which comes back towards the end. A joyous coda rounds things off. It makes a decisive and ideal end to a strong work.
 
I was bowled over by this First Quartet coming to it for the first time and was expecting much from the Second. This latter was written in Copenhagen where Grieg lived for a while after 1891. In the accompanying essay by Erling Dahl, Grieg is quoted as having written the following to his friend Frants Beyer. He bemoans that “here there is nothing inspiring or stimulating” and he goes on “the music I settle on one day I tear out of my heart the next … The ideas are bloodless, just as I am …”. I have to admit that the music of the pastoral and easy-going first movement sounds just like it. It does not seem to have cried out to have been written; craftsman-like certainly, and pleasant enough but that’s it. With the second movement we are back in Norway. I hear a Hardanger fiddle melody and folk-like drones. The third movement is a song-like adagio and the fourth is a happy little Allegro. Both are quite short and have been reconstructed by Levon Chilingirian, as he writes in the booklet, from various sketches. His brief remarks are for me very frustrating as he fails to tell us exactly what his contribution was and nothing about the state of the originals. The fourth movement ends in a hopelessly abrupt manner to such a degree that the completed work is unperformable as it stands. Surely, in reconstructing a work a satisfactory ending should be ‘composed’ even if we have no idea what the composer intended. That is after all what makes Anthony Payne’s Elgar 3 so successful.
 
In recent years I have heard the Chilingirian Quartet live a few times and have not been as impressed as I might have expected. Back in 1998 they really hit the jackpot with this recording and are on superb form. They obviously have a deep feeling for the music and are captured in the lovely and easy-going acoustic of St. Georges in Bristol most naturally by Andrew Keener.
 
Now that Hyperion have released this disc on their inexpensive Helios label I can only suggest that it is well worth the outlay. Certainly the first quartet is a masterwork and deserves to be better known.
 
Gary Higginson
 

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