Fernand de La Tombelle (1854-1928) was something of an unknown quantity until recently, when a number of important recordings of his work indicated the start of a major reappraisal. Tassis Christoyannis and Jeff Cohen’s rediscovery of the songs (Aparté, 7/17) was followed by Bru Zane’s three-disc set (3/20) presenting a cross section of his output, and now the Mandelring Quartet have given us his E major String Quartet – dating from 1895 and his only work in the genre – coupled with the Ravel Quartet, written less than a decade later. As on previous occasions, La Tombelle proves to be uneven: strongly influenced by Franck, the Quartet is very much an exercise in cyclic form, though we’re also aware on occasion of an engagement with Beethoven, not so much with the latter’s quartets as with the Ninth Symphony, which at times informs the melodic contours of the Scherzo.

A certain grandness of gesture throughout indicates that La Tombelle was thinking in terms of a major statement. The slow introduction to the big opening Allegro, laying out the work’s harmonic and thematic parameters, is long and imposing enough to effectively constitute a separate movement. The Scherzo and Trio swivel between 6/8 and 3/4, in ways both clever and disorientating, before Beethovenian flourishes indicate a peremptory call to order. The closely, intensely woven Adagio has an almost Tristan-esque chromatic density but the finale is less successful than the rest of it, thematically foursquare, the cyclic deployment of material from previous movements more a matter of quotation than of developmental reworking.

You can’t fault the performance. The Mandelring Quartet play with understated virtuosity, consistent warmth of tone and a wonderful sense of ensemble throughout. They can’t disguise the weaknesses in the finale; but elsewhere La Tombelle’s counterpoint emerges with great clarity, form and structure are carefully laid bare and emotional depth is conveyed with great refinement of expression. The same qualities of understatement and clarity inform their interpretation of the Ravel Quartet, a performance of often fastidious detail, though one in which we’re also keenly aware of the work’s deeper resonances. A sudden, almost dislocating surge of emotion at the first movement’s climax prepares us for the pressures of the finale, which is very urgent and agité here. The Scherzo’s Trio sounds melancholy amid the surrounding swagger, its bittersweet mood colouring the quietly intense slow movement that follows. I prefer the fractionally greater emotional range and expressive directness of the Stenhammar Quartet’s recent recording of the work (Alba, 8/19), but the Mandelring’s performance is a fine achievement that repays repeated hearings.