Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897)
String Quartet No. 1 in c minor, Op. 51, No. 1 [34:33]
Piano Quintet in f minor, Op. 34 [43:21]
Quatuor Ébène (Pierre Colombet (violin); Gabriel Le Magadure
(violin); Mathieu Herzog (viola); Raphaël Merlin (cello)); Akiko Yamamoto
(piano)
rec. Ferme de Villefavard en Limousin, France, 5-8 May 2008 (Quartet), and
Fondation Singer-Polignac, Paris, 1-3 October, 2007 (Quintet)
VIRGIN CLASSICS 50999 216622 2 S [78:42]
Brahms’ Piano Quintet, which was published in 1865, saw several incarnations
before taking on its masterful final form. It began life as string quintet
with two cellos, modelled after Schubert’s famous example in C major.
Neither Clara Schumann nor Joseph Joachim found much good to say about this
initial effort. Brahms later cast the work as a sonata for two pianos, which
pleased him, but was still met with a cold shoulder from his mentors. The conductor
Hermann Levi encouraged Brahms to visit the composition a third time and in
the summer of 1864, he finally created what was to be one of his finest examples
of chamber music. The work was immediately declared a masterpiece by Clara,
Joachim and Levi.
The stormy opening is full of sweeping gestures, thunderous episodes and complex
rhythms. The Quatuor Ébène and Akiko Yamamoto tear into the music
with youthful abandon, and although their playing is of the highest technical
order, I found the tempi to be rushed and breathless, leaving little room to
express Brahms’ sweeping lines and seldom allowing phrases to settle
before the next one is begun. Things go better in the slow movement where the
music is allowed to breathe more and there is elegance in the turns of phrase.
The Scherzo and trio hops along at good pace and the finale is performed with
confidence and power in spite of the tendency to again rush a bit. Overall
balance is fine and there is good give and take between the players, each allowing
the other a moment in the sun where needed.
The same observations can be made of the String Quartet, a work that caused
Brahms a bit of apprehension given the shadow of his predecessors Brahms and
Schubert and their supreme achievements in the genre. Again, the ensemble seems
too often to be on the verge of a loss of control where tempos are concerned.
Too often I heard unseated phrases, gestures that were not given enough time
to breathe and come to completion before the next idea was barrelled into.
Things were better in the slow movements, and it is evident that this group
can play with a sense of lyricism when it has a mind to. It would have been
nice to have heard a little more self-control in the outer movements though,
instead of just pure virtuosity for its own sake.
Kevin Sutton