Critics
often pounce on arrangements of pieces written for small forces
which have been expanded – usually for an orchestra of one kind
or another. The string quartet, held to be one of the most perfect
of chamber music combinations, has in the past been almost sacred
in this regard for some, and Mahler’s performance of the slow
movement from Schubert’s Death and the Maiden quartet
at an orchestral concert in 1894 was condemned as depriving
the work of its intimacy. As a result of this any plans for
a complete performance were abandoned, but Mahler had marked
up a score of this work with indications as to how it might
be prepared for string orchestra, and it was from these notes
that David Matthews and Donald Mitchell created the arrangement
we have here, published in 1984.
Like
any such arrangement, whether it be Jimi Hendrix for string
quartet or J.S. Bach for jazz combo, my standpoint is to fight
the instinct of referring to the original, but rather to ask
if the piece works in its own terms – after all, the original
is there to be listened to whenever you want, and needs no rescuing
from some kind of musical wrecking ball. As Mahler correctly
identified, Schubert’s String Quartet in D minor, D.810 lends
itself very well to arrangement for strings. There is plenty
of variety in the colouration which the composer and arranger
employs, with those typical pizzicato accompaniment touches,
transpositions of voicing and the use of mutes in some of the
variations of the theme in that famous Andante con moto
providing plenty of interest and atmosphere. The biggest problem
is uniting an entire string section to play figurations and
lines created for a soloist, and in this the Royal Philharmonic
Orchestra strings are only barely successful at times: the more
exposed moments hang together, but only just, and one is kept
at the edge of one’s seat for the wrong reasons some of the
time.
Telarc’s
recording is warm, and the rich extra of the double bass is
a bonus in this music. This is however an aspect which highlights
the differences between what can be a taut argument between
four players, and a more evenly ‘ironed-out’ texture of massed
strings. One way of creating more drama in this setting is in
extremes of dynamic, and while Charles Rosekrans can get a nicely
hushed sound from this ensemble I have heard more dynamic playing
from specialised string orchestras such as the Moscow Soloists.
All of the comments above apply almost equally to Dvořák’s
String Quartet in F major, Op.96, and here it is also
interesting to note how such an arrangement differs from the
approach Dvořák has to string writing in his symphonic
output – in other words, if he had been writing for string orchestra,
this would have been a different piece entirely. There are a
number of places where the inner lines receive an added thickness
which makes some passages seem a little laboured, and despite
my intention to take these versions on their own terms, I found
myself longing to hear a solo voice – in the soaring melodies
of the Lento for instance.
The result of all
this makes me wonder who would really want this CD: I mean, really
want to own it, rather than merely like to have it as an
interesting extra. If the music is part of your collection already
then this won’t reveal any secrets you may suspect remain uncovered
by the original string quartet versions, and Mahler’s arrangement
is interesting and effective, but doesn’t tell us anything new
about Mahler. If however you like the string orchestra ‘sound’,
and like the idea of having it in the setting of some of the deservedly
most popular quartet music ever written, then this will be a recording
which may tick enough boxes to make it worth your while.
Dominy Clements
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Charles Rosekrans 
