MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

alternatively
CD: MDT AmazonUK AmazonUS

Benjamin BRITTEN (1913-1976)
Complete String Quartets
String Quartet in D (1933-34) [21:13]
Simple Symphony Op. 4 [16:28]
String Quartet No.1 in D Op.25 (1941) [27:56]
String Quartet No.2 in C Op.36 (1946) [31:23]
String Quartet No.3 Op.94 (1975) [31:08]
The Britten Quartet (Peter Manning, Keith Pascoe (violins), Peter Lake (viola), Andrew Shulman (cello))
rec. October 1989-May 1990, Snape Maltings. DDD
BRILLIANT CLASSICS 9168 [66.08 + 63.36]

Experience Classicsonline


This excellent bargain-price set features the complete string quartet music of Benjamin Britten - presumably meaning the complete quartets of the mature Britten, given that he had already composed six strings quartets by the age of the twelve!  

It opens with his 1931 string quartet in D - composed written while Britten was still a student at the Royal College of Music. The first (written a decade later in 1941), second (of 1945) and third quartets (1975) are also, of course, included - and these four works are all given superb performances by the Britten Quartet - full of spirit and verve. The rapport between the players is palpable; there is an excellent sense of ensemble, and the playing is incisive and clearly articulated. The recording was made, appropriately enough, in the Snape Maltings, and the good acoustics of the building result in a sound that combines warmth and reverberance with clarity - with each individual part being pleasingly audible.
 
The surprise inclusion on the disc is the Simple Symphony, in which the young composer revisited earlier compositions to produce a work of intense energy, vitality and craftsmanship. Britten added instructions in the score that would enable a performance of the work by string quartet rather than the usual string orchestra - and the rendition here is a tour de force. The Britten Quartet make an extraordinarily full sound - so much so that one forgets at times that they are just a quartet rather than larger forces. The final movement in particular - Frolicsome Finale - receives a bravura performance, and is taken at an electrifying pace - far faster than a string orchestra could manage - unless said orchestra had exceptional capabilities! This is an illuminating and fascinating version; which works fantastically well for string quartet.

On the whole, I was greatly impressed by this set, in which the Britten Quartet give intelligent and radiant performances, demonstrating not just their affinity and understanding of the composer whose name they bear, but also their talent and consummate skill.
 
Em Marshall 

Dear Mr Mullenger

I can't resist pointing out a rather misleading statement in the review of what Brilliant Classics is pleased to call Britten's "string quartets (complete)".

Em Marshall rightly treats this designation with a pinch of salt, referring to the set as "the complete string quartet music of Benjamin Britten - presumably meaning the complete quartets of the mature Britten, given that he had already composed six strings quartets by the age of twelve". However, in so doing she only muddies the waters further. While one could get away with saying that the set includes "the complete string quartets of the mature Britten", meaning all the works to which he gave the name "String Quartet", to say as she does that it includes the "complete string quartet MUSIC" of the mature composer is confusing to say the least.

Assuming by "mature" she means "adult" (given that the Quartet in D, included in the set, was written in 1931 when Britten was 18), then in order to answer to this description the set would have had to include the Alla Marcia (1933) and Three Divertimenti (1936) - works that anyone acquiring Britten's quartet music would want to have. In addition there are a number of earlier works that have been deemed worthy of at least one commercial recording (in some cases several) - the 1928 Quartet in F, the 1929 Rhapsody and the 1930 Quartettino.

As far as I'm aware no set since the Endellion Quartet's on EMI has rounded up all these early pieces. However, all except the Rhapsody are available in one or more of the recordings currently in print, and I can imagine someone coming new to Britten feeling a bit peeved if they bought this Brilliant set believing it to be complete and then discovered that it wasn't.

All best
Rob Sykes


 

 

 


 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.