Mathew
Arnold observed: “It always seems to me that the right sphere
for Shelley’s genius was the sphere of music, not of poetry”.
Certainly, music was both a major influence on Shelley’s
work, and a frequent subject of that poetry. In turn, his
work has repeatedly attracted the attention of composers.
Amongst English composers there are fine settings by, amongst
many others, Geoffrey Bush, Roger Quilter, Vaughan Williams,
Granville Bantock, Delius and Tippett; a less expected English
setting can be found (‘Adonais’) on the B-side of The Cure’s
1996 single ‘The 13th’! Amongst modern American
composers, there are intriguing settings by David Diamond
and Ned Rorem. The number of settings, indeed, is such as
to justify the publication in 1974 of Burton R. Pollin’s Music
for Shelley’s Poetry: an annotated bibliography of
musical settings of Shelley’s Poetry (New York, Da Capo
Press).
Of immediate relevance to this particular CD, Italian
composers attracted to Shelley’s work include Giorgio Ghedini,
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco – and Ottorino Respighi. Respighi
set several poems by Shelley, in Italian translations. Amongst
them is the gorgeous Il Tramonto, which sets a translation
by Roberto Ascoli of Shelley’s early poem ‘The Sunset’ (written
in 1816). A minor masterpiece which belongs in a sound-world
compounded of, say, Mahler and Zemlinsky, Strauss and Puccini,
Respighi’s music beautifully complements and articulates
Shelley’s poem of love and death, of “gentleness and patience
and sad smiles” and “wisdom-working grief”, of “passionless
calm and silence unreproved”. The vocal line is exquisitely
handled by Stella Doufexis, her voice at times floating raptly
where “lines of gold / Hung on the ashen clouds” and at times
unbearably pained in evocation of the bereaved woman’s death-in-life.
There are other fine recordings, including performances by
Magdalena Kozena with the Henschel Quartet (Deutsche Grammophon
4715812) and Anne Sofie von Otter with the Brodsky Quartet
(Vanguard Classics 99216). Kozena’s performance is part of
a recital of songs by Ravel, Shostakovich, Schuloff and Britten;
von Otter’s
performance is part of an all Respighi programme along with
the Quartet in D major and the Quartetto Dorico. Doufexis
and the New Hellenic Quartet are not seriously disadvantaged
by comparison with such big names – this is a dignified,
moving performance, which refuses excessive melodrama.
Respighi
played both violin and viola. While studying with Rimsky-Korsakov
he played viola in the orchestra of the Imperial Opera in
St. Petersburg; in Italy played viola in the Mugellini Quartet
from 1903-1908. Not surprisingly, his writing for string
quartet is clearly founded in secure knowledge of instrumental
possibilities. The Quartet in D minor is perhaps not especially
individual in idiom, but is thoroughly well made. The opening
allegro is full of rich harmonies and warm humanity; the
second movement – marked lentamente con tristezza – is
steeped in romantic yearning, with some long melancholy melodic
lines; the third movement is neatly made, a model of balance,
with some attractively lyrical episodes; the finale sparking
with controlled energy. A satisfying piece which deserves
to be heard more often.
The Quartetto
Dorico – written some fifteen years later – is, however,
an altogether more distinctive work. It was written at
about the time when Respighi – in part because of the influence
of his wife, the singer and composer Elsa Olivieri-Sangiacomo – was
reshaping his musical thought in the light of his study
of Gregorian chant – an interest also reflected in such
compositions as the Concerto gregoriano (1921) and
the Concerto in modo misolidio (1925). The quartet
is written as a single long movement, though made up of
clearly distinct sections. There are passages indebted
to folk materials; there are alternations between contrapuntal
and homophonic writing; there is much fine writing for
the viola, in particular. There is suggestion of subdued
passion in much of the writing, a sense of passion reflected
upon and contained, its sources and outcomes only hinted
at in the insistent returns to a single theme. The whole
has a strange beauty, simultaneously – somehow – both lush
and austere.
In
both quartets the New Hellenic Quartet play with commitment,
intelligence and instrumental assurance. Their work resonates
with honesty and freshness. The singing of Stella Doufexis
is of a similarly high standard – any listener wanting to
explore Respighi beyond the familiar orchestral works could
do a great deal worse than start here.
Glyn Pursglove
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Stella Doufexis
(mezzo); New Hellenic Quartet: Georgios Demertzis (violin);
Dinitrios Vhandrakis (violin); Chara Sira (viola);
Apostolos Chandrakis (cello) 
