Britten's String Quartets
Britten's String Quartets
The Gramophone Choice
String Quartets Nos 1-3. Three Divertimentos
Belcea Quartet
EMI 557968-2 (115’ · DDD) Buy from Amazon
The Belcea Quartet have become prominent players on the chamber-music scene. In the concert hall, their rather balletic style of performance can be alienating, but in these Britten recordings you can appreciate their high level of technical accomplishment without the risk of visual distraction.
Collectors familiar with any of the earlier sets of the quartets may not warm immediately to the Belcea’s exceptionally dramatic way with the music’s contrasting materials. But almost nothing is forced or eccentric here. The hell-for-leather tempo adopted for the First’s finale is genuinely exciting, not a scramble, and although there are a few obtrusive, fussy details in the outer movements of No 2 the overall impression is powerfully convincing. No 3 is even better, at least in the earlier movements, bringing a sense of barely suppressed anger to some of Britten’s most personal and allusive music. In the last movement the phrasing is occasionally over-pointed: yet, despite tempi that make this account significantly faster than the excellent Magginis (Naxos) and considerably faster than the stately Brodskys (Challenge Classics), the effect reinforces the true consistency of tone and character which underpins this notably diverse score. This is one of the best-engineered quartet discs you might hope to hear.
Additional Recommendation
String Quartets – No 2; No 3. Three Divertimentos
Elias Quartet
Sonimage SON10903 (70’ · DDD) Buy from Amazon
Selection to BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artists has clearly made the Elias Quartet a group to watch. The quality of quartet playing here is high by any standard. As part of their preparation the Elias players studied with Norbert Brainin of the Amadeus Quartet, who gave the premiere of Britten’s Third Quartet. A comparison with the Amadeus’s famed authority in these works (Decca) does the newcomers no harm: they are as expert in the fast movements and, where sensitivity is called for, the Elias players give themselves more elbow room to delve deep into the music.
These are highly sensitive, touching performances. Occasionally in the Second Quartet the Elias flirt with emotional indulgence but there is a wonderful pensiveness here and a real appreciation of the beauty of sound and colour, aided by a fine recording. In the Third Quartet the gently pulsing rhythms of the opening already evoke the lapping waves of Venice and the very hushed sul ponticello effects at the start of the finale are as subtle as a fine mist, through which the quotations from Death in Venice sing with heartfelt yearning. If the Amadeus Quartet focus on Britten the master of rhythm, these lyrical Elias performances remind us he was primarily a composer of vocal music. The playing in the Three Divertimentos is just as imaginative. Those who are looking to have all three Britten quartets may choose the admirable two-CD set by the Belcea Quartet (see above). Nobody who buys this new disc is likely to regret it.
String Quartet No 2; String Quartets – in D (1931); in F (1928)
Sorrel Quartet
Chandos CHAN9664 (74' · DDD) Buy from Amazon
The Sorrel Quartet can claim a significant ‘first’ in its account of the recently resurrected F major Quartet from 1928. At 15 Britten was nothing if not precocious, and although the ideas in this substantial piece offer few hints of his mature style, he was already using the medium to excellent effect. Three years later, in the D major Quartet which has been a repertory item since Britten revised it in 1974, there are signs of a more individual voice; this is an attractive performance, well shaped and effectively characterised.
Nevertheless, it’s on the interpretation of the Quartet No 2 that the disc must be judged. The Sorrel’s naturalness and feeling for line are much in evidence. Tempi for the first movement are broader than most rivals, but they serve an approach which makes a virtue of reticence, and still manages to be quite gripping. It has just about the best sound currently available (with the Maltings, Snape, providing an ideal acoustic), and the otherwise unrecorded F major Quartet adds strength to the recommendation of this noteworthy disc.
