What a contrast! A composer who had written more than
one hundred film scores since 1934 who also wrote five string quartets.
Well perhaps not that unusual: Rózsa wrote two, Alwyn three,
Vaughan Williams two and Korngold three.
Rather as the Martinů
symphonies which group imperfectly (the Sixth is from the early/mid-1950s)
around the 1940s, Frankel's symphonies are predominantly products of
the sixties. The five quartets come largely before the Symphonies
with only the Fifth (and last) written after the First Symphony. It
dates from between the Second and Third Symphonies.
The First Quartet is in four concise movements, together
playing for the length of the average concert overture. It was written
for the Blechs (as were all of the first three quartets) who were based
at the London Contemporary Music Centre. The Blechs comprised Harry
Blech (indelibly imprinted in my concert memory as a large man who for
years conducted the London Mozart Players), Lionel Bentley, Keith Cummings
and Douglas Cameron.
Clearly Frankel's credo was melody or, as he called
it, 'that ineluctable stuff out of which music is constructed'. We can
hear its importance to Frankel and its magnetic communicative power
in the andante molto of the First and the Moderato tranquillo
of the Second. Frankel's musical trajectory follows part of the
parabola traced by Tippett. A large part of the Frankel language deployed
in these quartets coincides really well with the line between the Tippett
style of the Concerto for Double String Orchestra and that of
the Corelli Fantasia. Frankel's writing for strings is rapt and
saturatedly lyrical reminding the listener of the Schubert String Quintet
(admittedly given a more modernistic knowing overlay in Frankel's case)
and of Barber's String Quartet. There is no dearth of evidence. Try
the lentos of No. 2 and No. 3 the latter marked misteriosamente.
Other voices include Janáček and Bartók
- the latter in the allegro assai of No. 2. Listen also
to the opening measures of the allegro second movement of the
Fifth Quartet.
Of course there are other voices too. Ardour and a
brusque and bracing energy can be heard in the Fourth Quartet (which
I 'learnt' from an old BBC tape by the Martin Quartet). This same quartet
vibrates with freshly imagined ideas, central European sensibility,
bustle and courtly elegance which fuses Tippett's busy rapture with
the summer evenings and dances of Smetana and Rózsa.
It is interesting to note three brief micro-crystalline
movements (one in No. 2 and two in No. 3) all of which are buzzingly
energetic. The Allegretto malevolo is a devil's caprice of a
piece with a husky chuntering figure that sounds like the rustling opening
of Nielsen's Fifth Symphony.
The Frankel of the five string quartets is far more
immediately welcoming than the Frankel of the eight symphonies which
are touched with the 12-tone wand. The quartets are moderately dissonant
but it is a soft moderation always empowered by melody and often no
more challenging than the Tippett works mentioned above or in Tippett's
late return to singing melody in the Triple Concerto of the early 1980s.
That said, the Fifth Quartet is the toughest of the five; only to be
expected given that it was written sixteen years after the Fourth.
The late Buxton Orr provided the notes which betray
a composerly preference for musical technicality. CPO show their qualities
by devoting 14 pages out of the 50 page booklet to handsomely rendered
music examples - all Mr Orr's handiwork.
These are gloriously idiomatic performances as I can
confirm having heard comparative recordings from, usually ancient, BBC radio
broadcasts from the period 1955 to 1970. Quite distinct from that background,
anyone hearing the Nomos will be gripped straightaway by their concentration
and their passionate delivery.
Rob Barnett
Hubert Culot has also been listening to these
Frankel’s five string quartets are an important facet
of his output, equal to his eight symphonies. The quartets form a varied,
yet fairly consistent body of works that share sureness of form, remarkably
effective string writing and a deep sense of formal cohesion. However,
the most noteworthy feature of Frankel’s string quartets is the remarkable
unity of each quartet, musically and emotionally.
The String Quartet No. 1 Op. 14 is a concise work packed
with energy and invention whereas the String Quartet No. 2 Op. 15 (1944)
is much more ambitious in scope, both in terms of length and of musical
substance. The five movements centre around the beautifully lyrical
central Lento. The String Quartet No. 3 Op. 18, again in five
movements, is another highly concentrated piece of music in which Buxton
Orr notes "an obvious reference" to Bartók. Indeed
the oscillating contrapuntal lines of the first movement seem to hark
back to Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta. The second
movement is a short, dynamic Scherzo whereas the following Allegretto
malevolo is a Scherzo dominated by the ghostly dance of muted and
pizzicato strings. There follows a long, mysterious slow movement the
tension of which is eventually released in the closing movement bringing
a "positive and robust close". Frankel’s first three string
quartets were intimately associated with the Blech Quartet who first
performed them.
The String Quartet No. 4 Op. 21 was first performed
by the Amadeus Quartet. It reverts to the more traditional four movement
structure although their ordering is far from conventional. The opening
Allegro comodo based on two fanfare-like ideas is followed by
a lilting, slightly ironic Scherzando. There follows a deeply-felt
Lento Mesto of great beauty. The quartet closes with an Andantino
semplice that after all may not be that simple. If Bartók’s
shadow looms large over the third quartet, Shostakovich’s might be doing
so over the fourth quartet which has more than one touch of the Russian
composer’s irony and innate sadness.
The String Quartet No. 5 Op. 43 (1965) belongs to Frankel’s
maturity. It was first performed by the Dartington String Quartet and
it is the only one previously recorded (Lansdowne String Quartet EMI
SX6163 nla). This is undoubtedly one of his finest works. It is again
in five movements of which the first one is by far the most extended
and the most complex. The deeply-felt central Molto adagio is
framed by two short scherzo-like Intermezzi. The work closes
somewhat hesitatingly with a Scorrevole of which the mood remains
uncertain until the final bars bring an affirmative conclusion.
Frankel’s string quartets are a remarkable achievement
and they receive excellent readings from the Nomos playing with utmost
conviction and commitment. Excellent notes again by Buxton Orr generously
illustrated with music examples. My sole reservation would be the comparatively
ungenerous total playing time. I wish CPO could have included Frankel’s
piano quartet.
Hubert Culot
Visit the Frankel website
Nomos-Quartett