String Quartet No. 1 (1950-55) [22.09]
String Quartet No. 2 (1961) [13.38]
Chaconne for Solo Violin (1959) [18.48]
Arditti Quartet; Irvine Arditti (Chaconne)
rec. 16-19 May 2011, Sala 4 Alicia de Larrocha, L’Auditori de Barcelona, Spain
AEON AECD 1225 [54.33]
If you know any of the early work of Roberto Gerhard - and by early
I mean pre-Second World War - then you will know that this Catalonian
pupil of Schoenberg was still much indebted to Falla and other Spanish
composers like his first teacher Felipe Pedrell although he had his
own distinctive voice. He attempted in pieces like Alegrias
(1943) and the earlier Albada, Interludi I Dansa to add to
his national heritage a pan-European gloss of more searching harmonies
and transparent textures. By the time of the First Symphony (1952-3)
and certainly by the time of this First Quartet, written during the
same period, his admiration for Schoenberg had taken complete hold
and he had become a serial composer. The Schoenbergs even came to
stay with the Gerhards near Barcelona, when the former needed some
healthy recuperation from the cold of a German winter in 1931.
Now at this point I don’t want potential readers to click to
a different review so I will add immediately that this First Quartet
is approachable and fascinating. It is succinct and keeps your attention
and, in the case of the third movement, grave, very beautiful, otherworldly
and atmospheric. The outer movements have some extraordinary and original
textures and in addition are rhythmically exciting - perhaps a Spanish
influence. Schoenberg would not have conceived of such vitality and
only the second movement Scherzo actually marked ‘con vivacita’
fails to impress in its all too brief appearance.
Actually this is probably Gerhard’s fourth essay in the form.
As a young man, when studying with Schoenberg and later, he tackled
three now largely lost quartets. Consequently this is a mature and
concentrated piece, amazingly virtuosic, especially in the finale,
and mostly tense and emotional. The Arditti Quartet has such a vast
repertoire of difficult modern pieces and they throw this music off
brilliantly.
In 1960 Gerhard completed his Third Symphony “Collages”
in which he used electronic sounds combined with an orchestra. It’s
as if these sounds were still in his head when composing the single
movement Second Quartet. This is quintessential Gerhard. There are
moments of stasis which Malcolm MacDonald in his excellent booklet
notes, in quoting the composer, writes of the music having a “magic
sense of uneventfulness”. The composer called these moments
“time-lattices” but there are also moments of mad insectile
activity - rhythmically fluid and crepuscular. Gerhard uses a great
many idiomatically unique effects for the strings like col legno pizzicato,
glissandi with the fingernails and flageolet glissandi. One can easily
hear where Ligeti in his First Quartet started from. One can also
discern the musical DNA of another of Gerhard’s favourite composers,
Béla Bartók. These ‘voices’ are all used
individually and expressively and although by 1962 standards this
was an avant-garde work - what came to be called ‘squeaky-gate’
music - its contrasts of dark and then brightly lit visions of a distant
landscape continually hold the attention. Fifty years on it seems
to be totally in tune with the overall development of twentieth century
music.
Composed between these quartets came the extraordinary Chaconne for
solo violin. After the opening statement there are eleven variants
which, helpfully, have been separately tracked by Aeon. The work was
originally written for the great Yfrah Neaman (1923-2003) who went
on to record Gerhard’s Violin Concerto for Argo (reissued on
Lyrita).
I can think of no one contemporary specialist in violin technique
more suitable than Irvine Arditti to take up Neaman’s mantle.
It is a formidable work and needs much concentration from both the
player and indeed the listener to grasp its subtleties. That said,
the development and gradually build-up of the ideas can be sensed
right from the first page. Tempi are continually contrasted and, characteristically,
the chaconne theme itself is a tone row. It’s one that can seem
to turn tonal and almost romantic in some slow and more lyrical sections.
This is a fine disc, superbly played and well worth purchasing but
I suspect that a little prior knowledge and interest in Roberto Gerhard
might help before doing so. Even so, the quartets are approachable
despite their rarity value. That can be explained by the fact that
music like this is, at present, singularly out of fashion. That may
be why Gerhard has not been heard that much in the last decade. It’s
good to have him back.
The booklet comes with black and white photos of the composer and
the performers and some very apt notes by Malcolm MacDonald.
Gary Higginson
A fine disc, superbly played and well worth purchasing. The quartets
are approachable despite their rarity value. It’s good to have
Gerhard back.
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