Sir Charles Villiers STANFORD (1852-1924)
String Quartet No 1 in G major, Op. 44 (1891) [29:33]
String Quartet No 2 in A minor, Op. 45 (1891) [26:41]
String Quartet No 6 in A minor, Op. 122 (1910) [22:45]
Dante Quartet
rec. 2019, St Nicolas Parish Church, Thames Ditton, UK
SOMM CÉLESTE SOMMCD0607 [79:17]
With this release the Dante Quartet and SOMM conclude their project to record all eight of Stanford’s string quartets and in so doing they bring us the first recording of the Sixth Quartet. I very much enjoyed the previous instalments which featured the Fifth and Eighth Quartets (review) and Quartets 3, 4 and 7 (review).
All three of these quartets were the fruits of summer holidays. Jeremy Dibble relates in his booklet essay that in August 1891 Stanford spent a holiday in the Welsh resort of Llandudno. In a burst of creativity, he composed his Quartet No 1, most of it within the space of a week towards the end of that month, and then immediately began work on its successor. The first three movements of the Second Quartet were finished by 1 September. What a productive holiday! The finale was written shortly thereafter, at the end of September, while Stanford was visiting an old friend in Yorkshire.
Both of the quartets are in four movements. The opening movement of the First is genial yet animated. There’s excellent dialogue between all four instruments in this engaging movement. You might say that the following movement is a scherzo in reverse in the sense that the two trio sections are faster than the rondo music that surrounds them. The rondo material is rather dainty. The two trios are interesting because they derive from the same material but are by no means identical. The slow movement, marked Largo con molto espressione, is the longest of the four movements. The movement is founded upon what Jeremy Dibble rightly calls a “broad, generous diatonic melody” and it’s a lovely creation. The music proceeds on what seems like an endless flow of melody. The members of the Dante Quartet play this music with exceptional understanding and mutual empathy; it’s a real team performance. The finale, a highly energetic gigue, offers abundant contrast with the preceding movement. This finale is a sparkling invention and the music dances along infectiously. Stanford’s first essay in the string quartet medium is a fine achievement.
The Second Quartet, again cast in four movements, is another highly accomplished composition. Jeremy Dibble draws attention to the “sinewy counterpoint” that we hear at the very start; this music seems rather severe to me. The second subject is more upbeat and lively. Thereafter, these two ideas vie with each other for the listener’s attention. They are very different in nature but it seems to me that as the movement progresses the two ideas, and the music they spawn, seem increasingly to complement each other. There follows a vivacious Scherzo; Jeremy Dibble’s comparison with Beethoven is apt. The movement is very short – there’s no time for the dalliance of a trio. The third movement, Andante espressivo, contains lyrical and deeply felt music, though there’s a central episode which is much more urgent in character and this is strongly projected by the Dantes. The lively finale’s opening idea, heard initially on the first violin and pervasive thereafter, has, as Jeremy Dibble observes, an ‘Eastern European’ aura. He wonders if this was a tribute to Dvořák who Stanford had entertained in Cambridge earlier in the year when the Czech composer had received an honorary degree from the university. As I listened to the movement, the shape of this ‘Eastern European’ motif nagged more and more insistently; I’d heard something very similar before. Eventually the penny dropped; Stanford’s motif bears an uncanny resemblance to the theme of Dvořák’s Symphonic Variations, Op 78 (1877). Stanford may well have known the work because Hans Richter performed it in London in 1887. Stanford’s music is full of vitality, as is the present performance.
The Sixth Quartet is another holiday composition; Stanford completed it during a fishing holiday in Northumberland in August 1910. The piece was premiered in London the following year but then seems to have vanished from view completely – it was unpublished – until the violinist Carl Pini rediscovered and performed it in 1980. The present recording, the work’s first, uses a new edition prepared by Jeremy Dibble. This time we have a work cast in just three movements.
Jeremy Dibble draws attention to the restless character of the first movement; I found this trait became more marked as the movement progressed. The slow movement offers a fine contrast; for the most part the music is tranquil and warm – indeed, I understand that the first violin part is marked con calore. In mid-movement we hear a much less relaxed episode which is bedevilled by tremolandi, which lurk under the melodic lines. Soon, however, the opening mood of the movement is reasserted. The last movement combines elements of scherzo and finale. Here the Dante Quartet demonstrate really crisp ensemble; that’s vital given the highly contrapuntal nature of Stanford’s writing. It’s good that this quartet has at last made it onto disc and it receives fine advocacy from the Dantes.
Thanks to the Dante Quartet we now have all eight of Stanford’s string quartets on disc – all but the first two are new to the catalogue. Taken as a whole, the quartets constitute a significant achievement and I’m astonished that no one has recorded them all previously. Admirers of Stanford’s music and/or of British chamber music are indebted to the Dante Quartet, to Prof Jeremy Dibble and to SOMM Recordings for making these excellent quartets readily accessible at last. This third and final instalment in the series maintains all the presentational virtues of the previous releases: the performances are consistently excellent and committed; the documentation is comprehensive; and the recorded sound, engineered by Paul Arden-Taylor, is very pleasing
Having completed their Stanford quartet project, the present Dante Quartet is disbanding – amicably, it would seem from the message on their website – after some 25 years. A new Dante Quartet will be formed by cellist Richard Jenkinson while the other three members pursue other directions. With this imported recorded cycle of Stanford quartets, the Dante Quartet, as constituted until now, has gone out on a very high note.
John Quinn
Performers: Krysia Osostowicz & Oscar Perks (violins); Yuko Inoue (viola); Richard Jenkinson (cello)
