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Fritz KREISLER (1875-1962)
String Quartet in A minor (1919) [29:10]
Efrem ZIMBALIST (1890-1985)
String Quartet in E minor (1931/1959) [27:19]
Eugčne YSAŸE (1858-1931)
* Harmonies du Soir, for string quartet and strings, op.31
(1924) [14:47]
Fine Arts Quartet (Ralph Evans (violin); Efim Boico (violin); Nicolň
Eugelmi (viola); Wolfgang Laufer (cello)); *Philharmonic Orchestra
of Europe/*Otis Klöber
rec. Library, Wittem Monastery, Limburg, Netherlands, 27-30 April
2010. DDD
NAXOS 8.572559 [71:36]
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What an intriguing programme: three of the greatest violinists
not just of their age, but of all time, appearing as composers.
By way of further connection, Kreisler and Zimbalist were good
friends, often performing together, and both revering Ysa˙e.
Outstanding performers and outstanding composers are not always
to be found in the same skin, but Kreisler, Zimbalist and Ysa˙e
were among those who, like Spohr a century before, were keen
to express their artistic nature not only through violinistic
bravura. There is growing recorded evidence that Ysa˙e at least
was successful, for example in his own String Quartet, which
appeared last year in a fine recording by Kryptos Quartet -
see review.
Kreisler, on the other hand, seems damned for the time being
to be known only for his famous encore pieces, Liebesfreud
and Liebesleid, as pretty as they are. Naxos have treated
Kreisler well, however, with dozens of recordings featuring
him wearing different hats, including four volumes to date of
his complete recordings (8.112053, 8.112055, 8.112064, 8.111384),
nine volumes of Japanese violinist Takako Nishizaki playing
Kreisler's arrangements and his own pieces (no.9 = 8.557875),
and a sackful of compilation discs with titles like 'Violin
Bliss', 'My First Violin Album', and even
'Classic Swoon'. Kreisler's String Quartet
is also available in the Naxos Classical Archives series, performed
by the Stuyvesant Quartet (9.80761).
Kreisler's and Zimbalist's are almost classical
quartets in structure and spirit, not at all suggestive of their
creators' high-society lifestyles, pitched in fact somewhere
between Zemlinsky and Glazunov, and frankly irresistible: rich,
beautifully crafted, melodic, harmonically wistful or nostalgic
works - hardly a coincidence that the finale of Kreisler's
Quartet is entitled Retrospection.
Ysa˙e's single-movement Harmonies du Soir may
at first sight seem an odd companion, but the additional orchestra
is strings-only and lightly applied, giving the work something
of the texture of Strauss's Metamorphosen, which
it predates by two decades and is sometimes harmonically reminiscent
of, although Ysa˙e's work is much more optimistic - its
final bars are said to represent sunrise. Given its subject-matter,
mood and chromaticism, Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht
is probably a better model, and Ysa˙e must have heard Schoenberg's
own arrangement of it for strings when it appeared in 1917.
Extraordinarily, the works by Ysa˙e and Zimbalist are premiere
recordings.
The Fine Arts Quartet
have a massive and superb discography, including ten previous
discs for Naxos, ranging from Beethoven to a CD that featured
violinist Ralph Evans' own First String Quartet (review).
Many of their recordings win awards; certainly they are nearly
all singled out for their exceptional merit, on display again
in this latest recording, where their technical prowess and
expressive power are tested time and again by three composers
that knew more than anyone what string instruments were capable
of. Kreisler's 'sound' is stamped on his
writing as much as it was on his playing, but the Fine Arts
have the good taste not to over-sweeten the rubato or portamento.
By way of contrast, this is Otis Klöber and the Philharmonic
Orchestra of Europe's first recording for Naxos, and
as decidedly low-key as it is, they acquit themselves nicely.
Sound quality is pretty good, although there is some lack of
definition in the full string orchestra of Harmonies du
Soir. Though traffic rumble is sometimes very faintly audible,
there is little sign of the levels of reverberation that might
be expected from a monastery venue - perhaps some post-recording
processing accounts for the slightly dull sound.
The booklet is glossy, and the notes by Roy Malan - Zimbalist's
biographer and himself a noted violinist, with a recording of
Zimbalist sonatas to his credit - are not only informative and
well written but extensive, for Naxos at least. The back inlay
is rather scruffily laid out, and performer biographies very
brief, and in fact inexplicably out of date - this disc was
released ninth months after ill health had forced the Quartet's
cellist Wolfgang Laufer to leave the group after more than thirty
years; Laufer sadly died in June 2011. But as one of his last
recordings, this CD pays an emphatic tribute to his, and the
Fine Arts Quartet's, splendid musicianship.
Byzantion
Collected reviews and contact at reviews.gramma.co.uk
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