Luigi BOCCHERINI (1743-1805)
String Quartet in G major op.44 No.4,La Tirana Spagnola
[9:02]
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
String Quartet No.17 in B flat major K458 The Hunt [23:23]
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
String Quartet No.15 in A minor op.132 [44:26]
Quartetto Italiano (Paolo Borciani (violin); Elisa Pegreffi
(violin); Piero Farulli (viola); Franco Rossi (cello))
rec. 22 February 1965, Royal Festival Hall, London
ICA CLASSICS ICAC 5070 [77:07]
The Quartetto Italiano is captured live here, in the Royal Festival
Hall in London. The recital was given on 22 February 1965. The three works
all feature in the studio discography of the group. They had taken the
Boccherini Quartet into their repertoire a decade before, and had recorded
it in mono in 1956. Their survey of all Mozart’s Quartets is still
much admired though they had only taken this particular quartet into the
active repertoire in 1956. Their Beethoven quartets are, if anything, even
more admired but rather surprisingly - though perhaps explicably given their
meticulous preparation - the quartet had not attempted Beethoven’s
Op.132 before 1962.
Their Boccherini - home soil for the foursome - is
characteristically full of elegance, precision, beautiful internal balance
and cleanliness. These qualities in no way preclude the natural wit of the
writing to be submerged or elided. Indeed the quicksilver qualities implicit
in the quartet are perfectly realised. The perfectly calibrated bow
weighting in the second of the two movements, a genial Minuet, are a fine
example of preparation and acclimatisation to the big hall. It all makes for
a fine addition to the group’s discography. The BBC’s stereo
sound is another advantage over the studio’s mono.
They take to Mozart’s Hunt quartet with engaging alacrity.
Tempi are sensible and the character of the music making deepens and ripens
in the slow movement where a greater intensity indicates increased vibrato
width. The sound and tone production remains one of considerable purity and
congruity, a flexible spruce and very personal sound-world that often evokes
bel canto lyricism.
In the Beethoven, quite rightly, their corporate tone is heavier,
though still recognisably their own. Technically this is a performance of
considerable elevation and where necessary - such as in the rusticities of
the second moment Allegro - colour and vitality. The great slow movement
seems to have been predicated strongly on the pioneering and highly
influential 78 set by the Busch Quartet, who also took things to heavenly
lengths. I’ve never been of the opinion that extending this movement
to nineteen or twenty minutes - the Quartetto Italiano take 19 and a half -
is of itself an index of expressive intensity. Sometimes it’s an index
of inertia. The question is whether the architecture of the movement, hence
the quartet of a whole, suffers as a result, and whether it makes structural
and expressive sense. Certainly the quartet sustains its slow movement and
whilst I admire the results - as with the Busch - I’m out of sympathy
with the ethos.
These performances are issued for the first time on CD.
Jonathan Woolf
The Quartetto Italiano captured live.