Camille SAINT-SAËNS (1835-1921)
String Quartet No. 1 in E minor, op. 112 (1899) [33:50]
String Quartet No. 2 in G major, op. 153 (1919) [28:47]
Fine Arts Quartet (Ralph Evans, Efim Boico (violins); Nicolò Eugelmi
(viola); Wolfgang Laufer (cello))
rec. 26-28 October 2009, Wittelm Monastery Library, The Netherlands
NAXOS 8.572454 [62:48]
I am in agreement with other reviewers elsewhere that this is music which
does not yield up its attractions on first listening. A certain cool formality
- very different from that which we more readily associate with the composer
of his more popular compositions - disguises its profundity. One reviewer
even goes so far as to say that the failure of his string quartets to please
or succeed, relative to Saint-Saëns’ popular works, is explained
by their lack of memorability. This to me suggests lazy listening; certainly
the members of the distinguished American group the Fine Arts Quartet believe
in this music. Their first violinist Ralph Evans describes them as “serious,
intellectual, brilliantly crafted yet delightful works which will change minds
in a hurry”.
Despite having already written a good deal of chamber music, Op. 112 was Saint-Saëns’
first foray into the medium of the string quartet. These are both mature works,
written when he was in his sixties and eighties respectively; the second,
in particular, exudes the melancholy nostalgia associated with old age. His
love of Bach and Mendelssohn is manifested in the frequent archaic and neo-classical
allusions in his music and a love of the fugue, a favourite form which appears
several time at different points in these works. Yet Saint-Saëns’
sound-world is clearly not entirely retrospective; it contains many Impressionistic
touches, unsurprising from a composer whose career spanned the mid-nineteenth
century to the early twentieth.
The E minor quartet begins in a melancholy vein, sombre and formal; there
is always a note of anxiety throughout. The second movement calls for some
superbly articulated triplets in the restatement of the principal theme. The
Molto adagio is dominated by the singing of the first violin, presumably in
homage to the dedicatee Eugène Ysaÿe. Played as well as it is
here, this movement seems to match the poise and tenderness of the Beethoven
Cavatina; there is the same sense of time suspended. In a more agitated passage
a tentative, stuttering syncopated figure alternates with the slow theme before
they resolve into the spacious calm of the concluding two minutes.
Finally, the mood of agitation returns in the last movement which close uneasily
with a frantic passage for the violin.
I have seen the Op.153 described as “a sunny, playful work” but
that is really only half the story. It opens in neo-classical, Mozartian vein
- momentum and elegance in a serene G major with some arresting shifts of
key. The slow movement employs some exotic melody and harmony, perhaps the
result of the composer’s familiarity with North Africa. It contains
another serene cantabile dryly described by the composer with his typical
wit as “deadly dull as an Adagio should be”. It is in fact teasingly
beautiful, featuring towards the end little spiralling, descending curlicue
figures on the first violin suggestive of acceptance and resignation. After
the slow, contemplative introductory Interlude, so typical of Saint-Saëns’
classical forebears, cheerful, scampering fugal passages alternate with the
reflective slow theme to close emphatically in a witty combination of plucked
fifths and ascending chords, ending on the tonic.
The Fine Arts Quartet is equal to all Saint-Saëns’ demands for
swift changes of mood and technical virtuosity. I have little to say about
the quality of their playing beyond observing that to my ears they are impeccable,
producing singing tone and unfailing homogeneity; I could not imagine finer
advocacy of these neglected quartets. They are not easy listening but repeated
encounters will, I am sure, pay dividends to the dedicated chamber music enthusiast.
Ralph Moore
Not easy listening but repeated encounters will pay dividends to the dedicated
chamber music enthusiast.