There can be few music-lovers
who have not been impressed by Donizetti's
prowess as the composer of over seventy
operas. Conversely, I'll wager that
the vast majority of readers will be
unfamiliar with his many works for string
quartet or even know that he wrote any.
As a ragged child in
Bergamo, Donizetti had the good fortune
to meet his teacher the Bavarian-born
composer Johann Simon Mayr, who had
changed his name to Giovanni Simone
Mayr, who was Maestro di Cappella in
Lombardy. Mayr became his mentor and
later sent the young Donizetti to Bologna
for further musical training with Padre
Stanislao Mattei.
Donizetti began writing
string quartets around the time of his
first opera Il Pigmalione in
1816. Depending on the source one consults
he was to write eighteen of them and
I believe there are a couple of others
in an incomplete state. Most of these
quartets were products of his early
career but not exclusively so as Donizetti
was to return to the genre several times
even after his success had been established.
There has been a resurgence
of interest in Donizetti's music in
the last twenty years or so. Now there
are a considerable number of recordings
of his operas, many of which were released
to celebrate the 1997 bicentennial of
his birth. In spite of this the string
quartets have not had the same interest
shown in them as the operatic works.
There have however been some recordings
of the chamber works. The ensemble The
Revolutionary Drawing Room have been
recording the complete string quartets
on original instruments for CPO Classics
and I know of three volumes of a chamber
music series on Arts Music as part of
their Red Line series.
The general neglect
of the string quartets is highlighted
by the fact that they remained unpublished
well into the twentieth century. We
are informed in the booklet notes that,
"...there exists neither a critical
edition nor even a complete edition
with separate parts for these quartets.
For this recording, we were forced to
consult the sources held in the Museo
Donizettiano in Bergamo."
The first work on the
disc is the four movement String
Quartet No. 5 in E minor, from
1818. In the lengthy and dramatic opening
Allegro the first violin of Marco
Serino undertakes the lion's share of
the work. There was a rather uneasy
feel to the Larghetto that contains
a tedious cello part with Valeriano
Taddeo playing virtually continuously.
The players provide a breezy Minuetto,
Presto and the final movement
Allegro agitato is punctuated
by agitated darting and leaping figures.
The String Quartet
No. 4 in D major is a four movement
work also from 1818. Donizetti seems
to be in a hurry in the stirring opening
Allegro and in the Canzone
the Quartetto Bernini provide a solemn
and almost reverential feel. The players
are relaxed and cheerful in the Menuetto
but despite their valiant efforts
the rustic closing Allegro comes
across as plain and tiresome.
The closing score here
is the four movement String Quartet
No. 6 in G major, composed around
1817-18. The appealing and lyrical first
movement Allegro is played with
great spirit by the nimble Quartetto
Bernini. In the Larghetto they
convey a certain seriousness and their
interpretation of the brief Presto
is bold and noble containing
marked contrasts. It feels as if Donizetti
is rushing to close the score with the
extremely short and lacklustre Allegro
giusto movement.
These fledgling Donizetti
scores are only reasonably interesting.
Despite the evident enthusiasm and commitment
from Quartetto Bernini this music comes
across as rather tedious, lacking in
memorability and uninspiring. The sound
quality from the Church of SS. Pietro
e Paolo in Salisano is dry and bright
but for me spoilt by a noticeable echo.
Those wanting to hear
high quality string quartets from the
early 1800s would be better served by
looking towards the works of Mozart,
Haydn and perhaps Cherubini.
Michael Cookson
for
details
Quartetto Bernini: (Marco Serino (violin); Yoko
Ichihara (violin); Gianluca Saggini (viola);
Valeriano Taddeo (cello)) 
