This is my first
acquaintance with the music of the
amazingly-prolific Bacri. At 47 his
opus numbers are in the nineties,
with a wide variety of works including
six symphonies, seven string quartets,
concertos for one and two pianos,
and various choral works. Born in
Paris in 1961, his early compositions
are serial. The liner-notes indicate
that Bacri’s influences are "Boulez
and Scelsi, Webern and Shostakovich,
Carter and Dutilleux."
The quartets are
sequenced here in reverse chronological
order, and from the outset of the
String Quartet No. 6, one also
gets a sense that Bartók is
also on Bacri’s sonic horizon. The
piece begins with an uneasy adagio
that rapidly grows in intensity and
volume before launching headlong into
a frenetic and emotionally intense
Allegro that provides the main
theme. The following two movements
are played without pause. The central
Adagio is a sombre, Shostakovichian
exploration of the thematic material
originally presented in the first
movement’s introduction, before escalating
in volume to the final theme-and-variations
movement. The pacing is intense and
the Psophos Quartet launch into these
pieces with fearlessness and tenacity.
The String Quartet
No. 5 is more formal in its architecture,
with an opening movement that is,
structurally, a relatively straightforward
sonata. The first minute is lyrical
and melancholically beautiful before
again escalating, as the Sixth did,
with surprising and intriguing changes
in timbre. The second movement,
entitled Elegia, is, according
to the liner-notes, a remembrance
of one of Bacri’s friends, Thierry
Mobillon. The letters of Mobillon’s
name make up the main thematic material
for this movement. There are pauses
filled with intensity and musical
phrases of great emotional impact
here that fans of Shostakovich will
certainly appreciate, as well as in
the following Scherzo senza trio,
which returns to Bacri’s driven pace
and, to me, extremely interesting
use of texture. The music on this
disc often moves at a hurtling pace,
but there is no doubt as to direction.
There may be moments of almost-stasis
here, but never aimlessness.
The Fourth Quartet
is subtitled "Omaggio a Beethoven"
and uses Beethoven’s Grosse Fuge
as the springboard, both in terms
of structural elements and thematic
material. The first movement, titled
Prologo uses fragments of the
Beethoven theme, along with a repeated
motif of a minor second that seems
to portray breathing. The slow movements
of Shostakovich’s Op. 110 are present,
especially since the first four notes
of the Grosse Fuge theme are
here invoked in a way that seems meant
to hark back to the DSCH theme. Shostakovich
shows up in various guises, as well
as an even more brutal quotation of
thematic material from Grosse Fuge
in the Toccata second movement. The
piece is arresting and wonderfully
intense, though by my frequent use
of that word in this critique, intensity
is certainly a hallmark of all of
the music on this disc.
Overall, the Psophos
play these pieces with the great tenacity
as they also do with the Third
Quartet and, based on the quality
of these performances, I will be looking
forward to other releases from them.
The liner-notes are extremely well-detailed,
including structural/thematic analyses
and timer indications that I believe
many will find very helpful. Regarding
the music, these works certainly come
recommended, especially for those
who enjoy the quartets of Shostakovich
and Bartók. This is challenging
and absorbing listening.
David Blomenberg
see also review
by Hubert Culot
Psophos Quartet 
