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Robert SCHUMANN (1810-1856)
String Quartets: A minor, Op. 41, No. 1 [22:29]; F major,
Op. 41, No. 2 [20:56]; A major, Op. 41, No. 3 [28:31]
Doric String Quartet (Alex Redington (violin); Jonathan Stone (violin);
John Myerscough (viola); Simon Tandree (cello))
rec. 9-11 February 2011, Potton Hall, Dunwich, Suffolk.
CHANDOS CHAN 10692 [74:15] ![](midprice.gif)
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The famous chalk lithograph of Schumann by Eduard Kaiser from
c.1847 is reproduced in the booklet here. Whenever I look at
it, I invariably find it vaguely depressing: the sitter’s dour
expression, lank, greasy hair, receding chin and pronounced
overbite inevitably convey the impression of an unhappy and
ill-favoured soul. The signs of mental instability, depression
and disease which eventually curtailed his creative and ultimately
his physical life are already apparent. I find that this music
from five years earlier in 1842 already foreshadows future sorrows.
These are fast, fierce accounts which emphasise the driven,
sombre quality of much of the music. Schumann is often given
to insistent elaboration upon one melancholy theme and his musical
ideas are rarely sunny or uplifting. The unity both of mood
and musical method is reinforced by the mediant key relationship
common to these three quartets, moving from A minor to F major
then to A major, This relationship by thirds reflects Schumann’s
conception of these three quartets as inter-related works to
be appreciated holistically rather than in isolation. The emphasis,
following Schumann’s immersion in Beethoven’s late quartets
seems to me to be more upon craftsmanship than inspiration;
I sometimes hear a certain formulaic doggedness in his manner
of exposition. These are not works which have found a permanent
or regular place in the concert repertoire; I think this is
at least partly explained by their predominant darkness and
a lack of variety, both in mood and Schumann’s manipulation
of certain key, repetitive themes. Very often, he opens a movement
by stating a haunting, falling motif such as we hear in the
introduction to the A minor quartet or the emphatic 6/8 figure
characterising the second movement Presto, and these ideas are
reiterated almost obsessively. Moments of release, relief or
serenity are fleeting; the Adagio opens with a lyrical melody
that soon becomes more sorrowful and yearning than consolatory.
Some find the Presto finale to be joyful and insouciant; to
me it sounds increasingly agitated and uneasy. This pattern
is repeated in the F major quartet and I cannot say that I find
the second movement variations very interesting compared with
what Schubert or Beethoven can do. A tiny little skipping Scherzo
provides light relief and the concluding Allegro molto vivace
puts the seal on this as the sunniest of the three quartets.
The third A major quartet is the longest and grandest and also
reverts to sombre sadness. I do not find the quasi-variations
in the second movement much more engaging than those in the
second quartet, and while the Adagio molto provides welcome
lyricism, it is as always laced with anxiety. Some find the
finale optimistic and affirming; once again, I hear a more conflicted,
perhaps even paradoxical, emotional complexity in its manic
stutterings. When Schubert adopts this frenetic mode, such as
in the Allegretto concluding the String Quintet D956,
I hear a reassuring sense of the music smiling through tears;
here, we are grinning in the dark.
The 24 bit sound is superb but so close and clear that we hear
too much sniffing obbligato from the instrumentalists. I find
the photograph on the cover featuring our quartet dressed like
Mafiosi in a sylvan setting, complemented by similarly posed
shots in the booklet and the back cover, to be distinctly sinister
- but perhaps this is apt, given the tenor of so much of the
music. The playing of the Doric String Quartet is exceptionally
honed and precise; their intonation is excellent. They could,
however, bring a little more warmth and tenderness to the Adagios
as their tempi are brisk compared with competitive recordings.
While I find much to admire here, other reviewers writing have
on the whole been more enthusiastic about this music than I,
although I note that they make some of the points I am striving
to convey regarding a certain dourness in these quartets. I
do not pretend to be a Schumann specialist and was drawn to
investigate this music because I enjoy many of his other works
but I find myself as often disturbed and perplexed by its uneasiness
as I am charmed by its lyricism.
Ralph Moore
See review by Gavin
Dixon
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