Ernst Wilhelm WOLF (1735-1792)
String Quartet in B flat major op. 3,1 [14:19]
String Quartet in G minor op. 3,3 [13:22]
String Quartet Quartetto in C major [12:31]
String Quartet Quatro in D minor [11:17]
String Quartet in E flat major op. 3,2 [11:48]
Pleyel Quartett Köln
rec. 2012, Siemensvilla Berlin-Lankwitz.
CPO 777 856-2 [63:50]
Ernst Wilhelm Wolf was a native of Thuringia in central
Germany, starting out as a church musician in Gotha. His early musical experiences
seeing concerts with the music of Graun, Hasse and C.P.E. Bach proved highly
influential. After travels in Italy, Wolf ended up in Weimar, marrying a daughter
of Franz Benda, entering the service of Duchess Anna Amalia and becoming appointed
master of the ducal chapel. Much of his work is vocal, but he also wrote a
good deal of keyboard and chamber music and can justly be seen as a key figure
in the musical life of Weimar in the latter part of the 18th century.
Wolf’s chamber music emerged as the string quartet was being shaped
by Mozart and Haydn, but rather than being swept up with Viennese trends his
models are more closely allied to the Berlin composers of earlier generations.
This set of Opus 3 quartets are considered the zenith of Wolf’s quartet
writing, but while they were published in the same year, as Mozart’s
‘Haydn’ quartets in 1785 they stand apart from these four-movement
examples. Superficial stylistic features of the period can however be found
in common, and there is little doubt that if you appreciate Mozart and Haydn’s
string quartets you will get along with these very well indeed.
Each of the quartets is in three movements with a fast-slow-fast pattern,
and with delightfully transparent performances by the Pleyel Quartet on instruments
contemporary with these works there is much to be enjoyed here. As ever, the
more carefully you listen the more there is to be appreciated in these quartets,
each of which is a mature and sophisticated masterpiece of the genre. Wolf
was not beyond literary references, and the lovely slow movement of Op.
3 No. 1 is dramatically subtitled Le Lacrime di Petrarca. Striking
major/minor tonal relationships are a feature of Op. 3 No. 3, with
the two violins conversing antiphonally from left to right and developing
some moments of intriguing counterpoint.
The C major Quartetto was unpublished at Wolf’s death and may
be his final work for this setting. The viola was often given a lesser function
when compared with the violins, but it forms a more active partner in this
case, resulting in a fuller texture and more complicated interactions. The
sublime central Largo at times seems to anticipate Schubert. The
D minor Quatro is an earlier work, the score featuring a figured
bass part, something absent from the Op. 3 set. This is generally lighter
fare through with plenty of surprise and interest, especially in the exploratory
feel of the central Poco lento movement. Op. 3 No. 2 rounds
off the programme with some witty gestures and folk-music touches in the first
movement. The slow movement is an Adagio con sordino which has that
magical effect of music being heard from a distance, and is full of lovely
moments. The final Poco presto is a rousing conclusion in an dancing
triple time.
If you have boxes of string quartets by Mozart and Haydn but would like something
a bit ‘different’ in that perfectionist Classical idiom then Ernst
Wilhelm Wolf is a prime candidate for your urgent attention. His is not a
name that springs immediately to mind when it comes to the mainstream of classical
string quartet, but even while his works can be considered a cul-de-sac
in the development of the genre these are works that can more than stand their
ground against the best of the rest. I have to admit to being pleasantly surprised
and more than a little intrigued by Wolf’s vivid inventiveness, and
with excellent performances and CPO’s admirable recording this is a
release with which you simply cannot go wrong.
Dominy Clements
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