The recipient of a number of awards, the Adamas Quartet as winners of
the Jeunesse MehrWERT Prize of the Erste Bank in 2013 were entitled have a
recording funded by the sponsors. The Adamas are interested in music
outlawed as degenerate by the Nazi regime and here have chosen two works on
the prohibited list for their debut: the Haas and the Korngold. To these
they add Haydn’s well known
‘
The Lark’
quartet.
Joseph Haydn lived in turbulent times marked by war and political
upheaval. Under the Nazi regime Korngold, a Jew of Austro/Hungarian birth,
was forced to flee Vienna and emigrate to the USA. Pavel Haas, a Jew from
Moravia, was deported to his death at Auschwitz. In addition to being Jewish
and having their music banned Haas and Korngold are linked in other ways.
Both were born within two years of each other in the Moravian (Czech
Republic) city of Brno and had Korngold not been taken to Vienna from the
age of four, it is more than likely that both would have studied together at
the same school.
Haas composed his
String Quartet No. 2 titled ‘
From
the Monkey Mountains’ in 1925. Although predating it by three
years it is a more progressive work than the
String Quartet No. 2
‘
Intimate Letters’ by his influential tutor Leoš
Janáček. The title ‘
From the Monkey
Mountains’ is a term used rather dryly by Brno inhabitants to
describe the popular tourist area of the Vysočina Region (Moravian
Highlands) and its unsophisticated inhabitants. Each of the four movements
has a descriptive title. The work is suffused with contrasting moods and
unconventional sounds. Here the Adamas has decided to use the original
version that includes a percussion part in the finale. Although all four
movements are appealling I especially enjoyed the playing of the highly
unusual yet captivating opening
Andante. Titled
‘
Landscape’ this is an evocative picture of the Moravian
landscape. Of note also is the heady final movement ‘
Wild
Night’ marked
Vivace e con fuoco - a clashing mix of sounds
and moods complete with percussive effects. A recording of this score from
the excellent Pavel Haas Quartet provides exceptionally strong competition
(Supraphon, 2006, Prague).
The highly precocious Korngold achieved his peak early garnering an
international triumph in 1920 aged only twenty-three with the opera
Die
tote Stadt (
The Dead City). His
String Quartet No. 2 was
composed some thirteen years later in 1933 one of the works written whilst
he was still living in Europe. It reminded me strongly of early Richard
Strauss. Here it is confidently performed. I was struck by the appealing
opening
Allegro with its roguish high spirits. The oft-repeated four
note fate motif from Beethoven’s
Fifth Symphony is an
interesting feature of the movement. In the
Allegro com moto
there’s a buoyant interplay of attractive themes inflected with
Viennese character. The
Finale is evocative of the idyllic world of
the Viennese waltz which seems incongruous given the political turmoil that
was taking place in Vienna at that time. In competing recordings of the
String Quartet No. 2 this Adamas performance is a match for the
splendidly played recording by the Doric (Chandos, 2010, Potton Hall).
Haydn had an enduring affection for chamber music and his cycle of
string quartets is a towering monument to his mastery. The celebrated
String Quartet in D major ‘
The Lark’ from 1790 is
one of a set of six written for Johann Tost. A violinist, Tost had played in
the Esterházy court orchestra from 1783 to 1788. Haydn was sceptical
about the business dealings of the entrepreneurial Tost who had left for
Paris before returning to Vienna as a wine and drapery merchant. The
D
major Quartet received its nickname ‘
The Lark’ owing
to the prominent first violin’s soaring melody in the opening movement
said to suggest the song of the lark. The Adamas here exude joy and charm.
Marvellously played by the first violin of Claudia Schwarzl the soaring
singing theme. Marked
Andante cantabile the second movement almost
grinds to a halt owing to the deathly slow tempo chosen by the Adamas.
Opening with the texture of a rustic dance I relished the buoyant playing of
the
Menuetto:
Allegretto with its distinctive courtly feel.
The blistering pace of the virtuosic
Finale:
Vivace is
splendidly controlled permitting a highly satisfying conclusion to a
magnificent work. The Adamas can be suitably pleased with their playing of
the ‘
Lark’
Quartet a performance that I will
certainly return to. Of the large number of recordings I have of this work
the account I most admire is from the Aeolian Quartet recorded in the 1970s
at St. John’s, Smith Square, London on Decca. I also relish the
playing on the impressive 1989 release from the Hagen Quartet on Deutsche
Grammophon.
The Gramola engineers provide excellent sound - clean and direct
with a good balance. The discerning Adamas delightfully mix assurance and
youthful exuberance with fresh spontaneity.
Michael Cookson
Masterwork Index:
Haydn
string quartets
