The Griller String
Quartet was a celebrity ensemble from
the 1930s until its disbandment in 1963.
Their membership remained constant until
the departure of O’Brien and Burton
in 1960. Various replacements were tried
out but by then the wind had gone from
the Griller sails. Hearing this most
vividly concentrated music-making one
can easily understand why they were
so well rated.
Their repertoire was
wide-ranging taking in the classics
but also extending to contemporary works:
Bliss String Quartet No. 2 (also recorded
by Decca and issued on LX 3038), Edric
Cundell’s quartet; Howard Ferguson’s
Octet; Rawsthorne’s Second Quartet and
Wordsworth’s Clarinet Quintet. They
were also partial to Bax and recorded
the Bax First Quartet and the Nonet.
Bax dedicated his Third String Quartet
to them.
The Grillers first
came into contact with Bloch in the
1930s as a result of a BBC invitation
to broadcast the massive first quartet.
They played at the inception of the
Bloch Society at the Aeolian Hall on
19 December 1937. They were instrumental
in the promotion of the Bloch quartets
and performed all five of them. Nor
did they restrict themselves to the
quartets. They also regularly performed
the two Piano Quintets.
In June 1947 for Decca
the Grillers made the premiere recording
of the Bloch String Quartet No. 2. This
was issued on 78s as AK1758/62 reissued
on Dutton CDBP 9713. In 1953 this was
followed by a recording of the Third
Quartet which was dedicated to the Grillers.
However the present recordings are from
a slightly later time and were made
in 1954 now appearing on CD a full half
century after those recording sessions.
These recordings have not been available
since their first LP release in 1955
and 1956.
How does this set (in
one of those snazzy single width cases)
hold up against the competition? First
please note that these are mono recordings
although such is the vigour and reflection
of the interpretations you sometimes
sense directional information. The tricks
the mind plays! Second it offers only
the first four quartets. The Grillers
did not record the Fifth although they
did premiere the work as they also did
numbers 3 and 4. Third these are recordings
made fifty years ago. And yet they sound
well with Decca’s engineers extracting
a measure of ampleness alongside the
treble emphasis. By all expectations
these recordings should have a ferocious
treble. The truth is that they sound
very good without being miraculously
refined. Of course there are occasional
blemishes’: the low level rumble at
the end of the first movement of the
First Quartet. I wonder if these recordings
sounded as good on those old LXTs? It
would be interesting to know from listeners
who have or can recall the original
black discs. Fourth it is two CDs at
midprice. Fifth it is well documented.
Sixth the performances carry a turbulent
cargo of historical significance.
Let’s start with the
hour long First Quartet. It dates from
1916. This was the same year as Schelomo
and the Israel Symphony.
It is a stronger work than both. Indeed
there is an uncommon serenity here alongside
a voluptuous rhapsodising typical of
Hiver-Printemps (1905), Poèmes
d'Automne (1906) and Deux Psaumes
(1912-14) (all three works on Timpani
1C1052). These show a delicacy without
even a glimmer of the effete. This is
music of diaphanous imagination mixed
with a searching sensibility and Bartókian
muscle. It is said that this work reflects
Bloch’s personal crisis (stranded in
the USA) and the crisis of the Great
War. This I can well believe. Of Bloch’s
major works this stands very tall indeed
and this version (I have not heard the
Portlands on Arabesque) can be recommended
with absolute confidence. If you hanker
after an emotionally ambitious epic
scale quartet and enjoy Bartók
and Shostakovich yet can accept a more
melodic hand then look no further. If
you are at all allergic to Bloch’s ‘wail’
and perhaps fear the excessive ethnic
element that soaks Schelomo,
Voice in the Wilderness and Israel
Symphony, be reassured. It is almost
completely absent from this expressionist
romantic work which stands loftily apart
from the other quartets.
The Third Quartet shouts
with an eager aggression - the third
and fourth movements blazes with such
moments. The performance is distinguished
by a thuddingly Bartókian attack
and by what sounds like a Hungarian
folk element. In the finale the Grillers
dig deep with gut and horsehair and
rosin. The 1950s engineers allowed the
resonance of the final note to decay
without cut-off. The Second was dedicated
to Alex Cohen, leader of the City of
Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Cohen
it was who put the Grillers in touch
with Bloch. The work launches with an
emotionally bleached-out lament (for
the war dead?). The final movement is
thunderous with brusque energy and incorporates
a turbulent melos - part Bach (Double
Concerto) and part Mozart (K364). With
one moment where repetition leaves the
concentration sagging this is impressive
work. The quartet ends amid an evocation
of hard-won peace
It is interesting to
note that when the three LXTs were first
issued the appearance of the Fourth
quartet in the shops took place only
three years after the premiere of that
quartet. This work, which the Grillers
premiered in London in January 1954,
is in the accustomed four movements.
Once again the action alternates between
burly attacking activity and peaceful
sounds suggestive of contentment. The
lovely rocking andante has a folksy
feel. Once again there is no shred of
the Schelomo or Hassidic strand. Half
lights and whispered confidences are
suggested. However the aggressive Presto
returns with the suggestion of Schoenberg-like
dissonance amid the initial pizzicato.
This dissonance is also encountered
at the start of the first movement.
The Grillers tear into this work with
a will and their collective unanimity
and sheer punch is almost forbidding.
I wonder if any recordings exist of
the Grillers as the lead four-some in
Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro?
This set has the virtues
of flamboyant authenticity and unattentuatedly
virile playing. The Laurel set is no
longer available so if you must have
a stereo version the only game in town
is the Portland
on Arabesque. That's a fine series
though it lacks the utter intensity
to be found with the Grillers. On the
other hand recording quality is superior,
it’s stereo and of course you also get
the Fifth Quartet. If you can live without
the Fifth or are prepared to buy the
Fifth separately then the Grillers are
first choice. The 'antiquity' of the
sound is by no means what you might
fear.
It seems perverse to
recommend this Decca set as a library
choice. Its age and mono signal tell
against it but in fact the age issue
can be largely discarded. Mono? Well,
yes, but I have heard stereo recordings
with less spatial sense than this.
The two page liner
notes are by the redoubtable Tully Potter
who always delivers a well written essay
packed with useful cross-references.
Mr Potter’s collection is also the source
of two photographs: one of them being
of the Grillers standing with Bloch
at the Santa Barbara Mission in 1947.
Gutsy recordings of
music of opulent complexity ranging
from the impressionist-romantic music
of the 1916 First Quartet to the sparer
yet still mesmerisingly tense music
of Quartets 2-4. How strange that the
Fifth Quartet eluded the Grillers. It
was completed a year after the Griller’s
recording sessions and four years later
Bloch was dead. A year after Bloch’s
death two key players left the Quartet.
With them went the stormy chemistry
that lifted the Griller Quartet out
of the commonplace. Perhaps it was just
too late to finish the cycle?
Rob Barnett
Griller String Quartet (Sidney Griller (violin
1); Jack O’Brien (violin 2); Philip Burton (viola);
Colin Hampton (cello)). 