I’m not aware that
this cycle has been around before. The set is a co-production
with Deutschland Radio and was recorded in Cologne, presumably for broadcast, though admirers of the young all-female
quartet will be aware that they have recorded the Fourth Quartet
for Arte Nova, a good programme that includes Stravinsky’s Three
Pieces, Shostakovich’s Eighth and Gubaidulina’s Second Quartet.
We
don’t lack for admirable available recordings of the six quartets
and collection cornerstones such as the Juilliard, Végh,
Berg and Emerson as well as the less well known but still admirable
Eder and Takács exercise a strong pull. These supplemented by historic
traversals of individual quartets – try the Pro Arte and Hungarian
Quartets’ pre-War discs for frisson – offer a reasonably comprehensive
prospectus of the quartets on disc. Still, the market is always
open to a budget price box.
They
take the Lento opening of the First quite quickly, shaving nearly
two minutes for example off the classic earlier (of two) Juilliard
recordings, the inaugural set from 1950 (on Pearl). It enables
them to float the viola’s lyrical song with well-sustained momentum
though others will prefer the greater relaxation, say, of the
Tatrai. Conversely they are at pains to equalise the three movements
by taking the Allegretto quite decorously with an interpretative
coolness that never becomes merely bland or indifferent. The
pause is too brief before the finale however, before the neatly
propulsive finale. Ensemble is fine and the musicianship of
the quartet strongly engaged though they can tend toward the
businesslike (in the Moderato of the Second for instance or
the Allegro molto finale of the Fourth). This is counterbalanced
by fluent characterization of such as the pizzicato episode
of the Second’s first movement and the pesante quality of the
opening Allegro of the Fifth and the way the melody arcs so
beautifully over the pedal of the same quartet’s Adagio. These
moments – the haunting desolation of the Andante of the Fifth,
say, or the off kilter folk tune in the finale or the woody
sonorities of the March of the Sixth - all manage to sound fresh
and new minted.
The
recording quality is slightly constricted but its quality suits
the clarity of emotive delineation the young quartet manages
to find in the quartets. There are more immediately idiomatic
moments in other hands perhaps – the highly personalised Végh,
the hot off the press integral 1950 Juilliard set amongst
then – but at bargain price these are formidably fluent
readings.
Jonathan Woolf