Erich Wolfgang KORNGOLD (1897-1957)
String Quartet No 2, Op 26 (1933) [23:53]
String Quartet No 3, Op 34 (1945) [25:39]
Alma Quartet
rec. 13 March 2021, Arcone Studio at Record Industry, Haarlem, The Netherlands
CHALLENGE RECORDS CC72869 [49:35]
With a playing time of under 50 minutes, one might be inclined to wonder why the Alma Quartet did not decide to go the whole hog and record the first of Korngold’s string quartets as well; at around 30 minutes it would surely have been possible to include it. As it is, if you want a fine performance of all three of Korngold’s string quartets, you might like to head towards the Doric Quartet on Chandos (review), which is still pretty much unbeatable as both a performance and a recording.
But before you do that, there is something a little special about this new recording which makes it particularly enticing.
The Alma Quartet from The Netherlands chose to record these two works direct to disc; which is to say these are live, unedited recordings, with all the sense of excitement and adrenalin that entails, but made in a studio setting, which means the sound is top notch and there are no disturbing audience noises-off. That live feel is very evident here, and the performance benefits hugely from the palpable sense of both tension and sustained involvement that comes with it. I suppose there will be some who, score and magnifying glass in hand, might point out tiny errors, slips or discrepancies (the sort of thing which makes any live performance unique); but for those who, like me, listen with no score and the only glass to hand being filled with a satisfying beverage, the thrill of this performance more than compensates for any inclusions in the finished product which, under usual recording practices, would have been ironed out at the recording process. In fact, for my money, the sense of teetering on the brink which permeates much of the fidgety scherzo of the Third Quartet, only makes it more appealing – one really does feel that these players are on a real knife-edge, and when the movement reaches its sumptuous Trio (perhaps one of the loveliest moments on the disc) we share that sense of relief the players must have been experiencing at that point.
These are very good performances by any yardstick, and the sound, while possibly a little brittle, is splendidly clear and detailed. Staying with the Third Quartet, the first movement exudes an almost spectral quality as the instruments float ethereally over Korngold’s delicate textures, while the aura of a folk song envelopes a reflective account of the third movement. The nervous energy of the finale is superbly captured, and while the booklet notes suggest the work “is full of themes he used in his film scores”, there is nothing at all in this performance which suggests either Hollywood epic or, more particularly, big, bold gestures; this is intimate and utterly idiomatic string quartet writing. The Second Quartet, written before Korngold’s move to the USA, might be “full of musical imagery of Vienna” (not least in the luxurious Waltz finale), but this is certainly the most extrovertly emotional of the two quartets. There’s a hauntingly atmospheric Larghetto as well as a delightfully insouciant little Intermezzo following on from the passionate first movement.
Marc Rochester
