Established in Warsaw
in 1995, the Szymanowski Quartet has
already had considerable success. In
May 2001 the Quartet was chosen to take
part in BBC Radio Three’s New Generation
Artists Scheme, their performances thus
getting a good deal of exposure. As
tends to be the way with younger string
quartets nowadays, they have put in
the time on the competition circuit,
and they have had successes at competitions
in Florence (the Premio Vittorio Gui),
Osaka, Melbourne and Hannover (they
studied together in the Hochschule für
Musik und Theater in Hannover). They
have performed at many music festivals
in Europe. This is, I believe, their
first CD.
My first reactions
were not entirely happy. The opening
vivace of Haydn’s Op.54 No.2 was, for
my tastes, played in too ‘romantic’
a manner, with pauses and and surely
excessive use of rallentando, so that
lines become over-fragmented. This is,
admittedly, a quartet of which Cecil
Gray wrote that "one can quite
easily imagine it to have been written
by Beethoven in his early, or even early
middle period", but even if we
grant this, it is a question of balance.
In this performance the opening movement
sounds not so much like an anticipation
of Beethoven as a consequence of the
example of Beethoven. After that, things
are altogether more persuasive. The
beautiful adagio is well played and
the quartet respond very well to the
elements of gipsy style; the minuet
(popular enough to be put to use in
a musical clock in Esterhazy) is attractively
handled and the near-eruption of the
C minor Trio is properly forceful. The
very individual finale, with its central
presto sandwiched between two adagios,
elicits some attractive playing. But
I remain unconvinced by the first movement!
Grażyna
Bacewicz’s String Quartet No.4 is the
best known of the seven which she wrote.
It was awarded first prize at the International
Composer’s Competition in Liege in 1951
and has now been recorded quite a few
times – by, for example, the Warsaw
String Quartet on Olympia, the
Wister Quartet on Direct-to-Tape, the
Fanny Mendelssohn Quartet on Troubadisc,
the Maggini Quartet on ASV and the Amar
Corde Quartet on Acte Préalable.
I haven’t heard all of these recordings
and, in any case, this isn’t the place
for a detailed comparison. The Szymanowskis
capture much of the work’s intensity.
Harmonically complex, there is a sense
of troubled conflict throughout much
of the work, released only in the dancing
rhythms of the final allegro giocoso.
There are decidedly Bartokian passages
and some subtle use of folk-like materials.
If I have a criticism of this performance
it is perhaps that it is at times just
a little too smooth, a little lacking
in bite. But others may very well feel
differently – this is a powerful performance
of a fine work.
The disc closes with
a very enjoyable performance of Dvořák’s
marvellous quartet No.14, Op. 105, in
which the Szymanowski’s play with both
precision and relaxation; there is an
impressive sense of ensemble and the
whole performance communicates a real
sense of affection and grace. The riches
of the opening movement, after
its sombre opening, are played with
conviction and, where appropriate, sparkle.
In the third movement (‘Lento e molto
cantabile’), the balance of melody and
countermelodies is very winningly handled,
and in the final allegro there is an
irresistibly dancing quality. This is
perhaps the most wholly convincing of
the three performances.
This is an impressive
recording debut by the Szymanowski Quartet,
even if I have my slight reservations
about the Haydn which opens the programme.
The technical certainty of the musicians
is absolute, the quartet’s ensemble
seemingly perfect.
This SACD recording
has been heard only on a standard CD
player – on which the sound is excellent.
Glyn Pursglove
See also review
by David Blomenberg
The Szymanowski Quartet: Marek Dumicz (violin),
Gregorz Kotow (violin), Vladimir Mykytyka (viola),
Marcin Sieniawski (cello) 
[76:00] 
