The Virtuoso Quartet
César FRANCK (1822-1890)
String Quartet in D major, (1889-90) [43:41]
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN(1770-1827)
String Quartet in B-flat, Op.18/6 (1798-1800) [23:54]
Franz SCHUBERT(1797-1828)
Moment Musical [3:36]
Virtuoso Quartet (Marjorie Hayward (violin); Edwin Virgo (violin); Raymond
Jeremy (viola); Cedric Sharpe (cello))
rec. 1925 (Franck): December 1926 (Schubert) and December 1926-January
1927 (Beethoven)
HISTORIC RECORDINGS HRMP00032
[72:18]
The Virtuoso Quartet - and its swanky name - was established by HMV
for the express purposes of recording. In its ranks were four top-notch British
chamber players. Marjorie Hayward was called the best female quartet leader
heard in London since the days of Wilma Neruda. Born in 1885 she had studied
with ševčik. Her second violin was the experienced
Edwin Virgo, who had depped as second fiddle in the London Quartet between
1916 and 1917 when its resident incumbent Tommy Petre had gone off to war.
Raymond Jeremy - Bax exponent - had premiered Elgar’s late chamber works
in 1919 in a group led by Albert Sammons. And Cedric Sharpe had not long since
left the Philharmonic Quartet of which he was the most able cellist, a group
led by Arthur Beckwith with Eugene Goossens the second violin and Jeremy the
violist. The Virtuoso did play in public, essaying for instance Bax and McEwen
from manuscript in concert.
The portfolio of albums they made was to prove auspicious and in a number
of cases pioneering. Hayward herself had already set down an abridged acoustic
Elgar Sonata, well ahead of the game, and all four players in fact were versed
in studio conditions. They set down Beethoven’s second (1924) and third
Razumovsky, the Tchaikovsky, Bridge’s Three Idylls (1923), Ravel’s
Introduction and Allegro, the Debussy and other smaller things too.
None of their recordings were ever reissued on LP and this is the first
CD appearance of their traversals, so far as I know. The Beethoven was recorded
on four black labelled HMVs [D1206-09]. In comparison with the sometimes crackly
shellac of domestic early electric HMVs this transfer sounds quite bright.
It’s certainly brighter and more forward than the 78 to which I listened
when reviewing the disc, the sound more treble-orientated than the more middle
frequency 78. It lends the playing a more urgent, keen patina and quality.
Phrasing is affectionate and they are certainly careful to bring out the intensity
and modernity of the start of the second movement.
The Franck was recorded in 1925, two years earlier than the Beethoven.
Clearly it caused some problems because there were four days of recording
stretching from January to April. It’s not wholly surprising. Recording
techniques were undergoing, or about to undergo, a revolution in the switch
from acoustic to electric recording. And the Franck is a difficult work to
pin down, even now. It’s a shame too that this performance, good though
it is on its own terms, was soon to be eclipsed by the magnificent early electric
of the London Quartet, which stayed in the catalogues for many years and is
a remarkable bit of playing. The shellac here on this Virtuoso late acoustic
is quite steely but one can certainly listen through it to the core of the
performance. I think it’s fair to say that of the foursome violist Raymond
Jeremy sounds, tonally speaking, the most anachronistic. The little Schubert
piece was a filler for the Beethoven and makes for a light intermission between
the two big quartets.
There are no notes, as usual from this source, but cost-cutting is surely
permissible when it means that one can concentrate on the core of the matter
which is the recordings. Maybe this company could take a punt on some London
Quartet recordings - some of the best around.
Jonathan Woolf