McEwen String Quartets Volume 2
Personable discoveries in a revealing series, given exemplary première recordings
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: John (Blackwood) McEwen
Genre:
Chamber
Label: Chandos
Magazine Review Date: 10/2003
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 58
Mastering:
Stereo
DDD
Catalogue Number: CHAN10084
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
String Quartet No. 6, 'Biscay' |
John (Blackwood) McEwen, Composer
Chilingirian Qt John (Blackwood) McEwen, Composer |
String Quartet No 13 |
John (Blackwood) McEwen, Composer
Chilingirian Qt John (Blackwood) McEwen, Composer |
String Quartet No 3 |
John (Blackwood) McEwen, Composer
Chilingirian Qt John (Blackwood) McEwen, Composer |
Author: Andrew Achenbach
This is the fourth disc in Chandos’s enterprising series devoted to Sir John Blackwood McEwen’s chamber and instrumental music. A substantial corpus it constitutes, too; the Scot (who, in 1924, succeeded Sir Alexander Mackenzie as Principal of the Royal Academy of Music) left us no fewer than 19 string quartets and seven violin sonatas.
Of the three quartets gathered here, it’s the Sixth in A major (Biscay) from 1913 that strikes me as the most immediately endearing. Written in the coastal village of Cap Ferret near Bordeaux (where McEwen had settled in order to recuperate from the debilitating insomnia that had undermined his professorial duties at the RAM), Biscay comprises a bracing Allegro moderato seascape (which brings echoes of McEwen’s 1911 Solway Symphony, 6/95), followed by a dusky slow movement (sample the unusual drone of its outer portions) and high-spirited finale.
No 13 in C minor (1928) shares its fluency, but also explores a ruminative mood reminiscent of late Fauré and d’Indy; both outer movements are richly woven and in turn flank a skipping scherzo and deeply felt Andante con moto. By contrast, the Third Quartet of 1901 reverts to the tripartite scheme of Biscay. The elegant opening movement is especially impressive, leading to a playful scherzo and folksy finale (Dvorák with a Scots brogue, if you will).The Chilingirian Quartet does McEwen proud. Production values, too, are first-rate, with Snape Maltings’ acoustic lending an agreeable bloom to proceedings. A hearty recommendation. For what it’s worth, I also enjoyed Olivier Charlier and Geoffrey Tozer’s 2001 collection of three violin sonatas and shall waste no time in making the acquaintance of the preceding volume in the Chilingirian McEwen series as well as Tozer’s anthology of solo piano works (all on Chandos).
Of the three quartets gathered here, it’s the Sixth in A major (Biscay) from 1913 that strikes me as the most immediately endearing. Written in the coastal village of Cap Ferret near Bordeaux (where McEwen had settled in order to recuperate from the debilitating insomnia that had undermined his professorial duties at the RAM), Biscay comprises a bracing Allegro moderato seascape (which brings echoes of McEwen’s 1911 Solway Symphony, 6/95), followed by a dusky slow movement (sample the unusual drone of its outer portions) and high-spirited finale.
No 13 in C minor (1928) shares its fluency, but also explores a ruminative mood reminiscent of late Fauré and d’Indy; both outer movements are richly woven and in turn flank a skipping scherzo and deeply felt Andante con moto. By contrast, the Third Quartet of 1901 reverts to the tripartite scheme of Biscay. The elegant opening movement is especially impressive, leading to a playful scherzo and folksy finale (Dvorák with a Scots brogue, if you will).The Chilingirian Quartet does McEwen proud. Production values, too, are first-rate, with Snape Maltings’ acoustic lending an agreeable bloom to proceedings. A hearty recommendation. For what it’s worth, I also enjoyed Olivier Charlier and Geoffrey Tozer’s 2001 collection of three violin sonatas and shall waste no time in making the acquaintance of the preceding volume in the Chilingirian McEwen series as well as Tozer’s anthology of solo piano works (all on Chandos).
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