Paul JUON (1872-1940)
Complete String Quartets
String Quartet op. 5 in D major [42:00]
String Quartet op. 11 in B minor [27:45]
String Quartet op. 29 in E minor [32:44]
String Quartet op. 67 [28:21]
Sarastro Quartett (Ralph Orendain, Roman Conrad (violins); Hanna Werner-Helfenstein (viola); Lehel Donáth (cello))
rec. 27-29 January 2014, Studio 1, Radiostudio Zürich
CPO 777 883-2 [69:35 + 61:12]
CPO have been at the forefront of promoting the music of the
Swiss-German composer Paul Juon, having already released two CDs of his chamber
music. The Swedish label Sterling have concentrated on the orchestral music.
A contemporary of Scriabin and Schoenberg, Juon eschewed modern trends such
as serialism and atonality. His music is both tonal and firmly rooted in late
romanticism. This may explain why he has largely been forgotten and is only
now being reappraised.
He was born in Moscow in 1872 of Swiss parentage, with his mother boasting
some Scottish ancestry. In 1889, aged seventeen, he was admitted to the Moscow
Conservatory, where he studied violin with Jan Hřímalý and composition
with Anton Arensky and Sergei Taneyev. His musical studies were completed
in Berlin at the Hochschule für Musik with Woldemar Bargiel. Working in Berlin,
he translated Anton Arensky's 'Practical Studies in Harmony'
into German as well as Modest Tschaikovsky’s biography of his brother.
He published his own book on practical harmonics in 1901. During this time
he was employed by Joseph Joachim as a professor of composition. His students
included Werner R. Heymann, Nikos Skalkottas and Gunnar Johansen. He retired
to Switzerland in 1934 and died in Vevey in 1940.
Juon dedicated his op. 5 Quartet to the Bohemian String Quartet ‘in
heartfelt admiration’. It’s the only one of the four works to
be cast in five movements, and dates from 1898. It opens in light-hearted
vein, exuberant and upbeat and full of the joys of spring. Its mood is in
stark contrast to the slow movement which is introspective and wistful. A
graceful central episode, supported by a delicate cello pizzicato, interjects.
Lehel Donáth’s rich cello line has great prominence in this movement.
An energetic and vigorous Molto presto follows. In the Intermezzo
fourth movement the composer puts the counterpoint he learned from Taneyev
to good use. In the finale we return full circle to the opening theme of the
quartet, the work ending in joyous spirit.
The String Quartet op. 11 in B minor was probably the first to be composed,
and it is the only quartet of the four which remained unpublished during the
composer’s lifetime, though it received a premiere in 1896. On the manuscript,
which was only rediscovered in 1997, an opus number 4 has been crossed out
and the number 11 substituted. Lehel Donáth argues that the harmonies point
to an early phase in the composer’s career, plus the work is heavily
influenced by the Russian masters. Echoes of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake
Waltz and the Violin Concerto are suggested. I hear a veiled reference to
the Scherzo of Schubert’s A minor Piano Sonata D845 in the quartet’s
Scherzo, with a bit of Dvořák thrown in for good measure; hints of Dvořák
also permeate the finale’s Slavonic character.
From 1905 we have the String Quartet op. 29 in E minor, like the op. 5, a
large-scale work. In the Allegro Molto first movement one detects
Russian and German influences. A beautiful cello solo ushers in a sombre,
reflective and inward-looking Lento. There follows a Moderato
with a distinctive oriental flavour, popular in Russia at the time; it has
a catchy rhythmic lilt to it. The solo cello, echoing the previous Lento
movement, welcomes in the finale which gradually opens out into an attractive
Slavic folk dance.
We leap forward fifteen years for the op. 67 Quartet, composed and published
in 1920. It was dedicated to the violinist Carl Wendling, who had a string
quartet that bore his name. This Fourth Quartet is compositionally more advanced
than its predecessors and it doesn’t reveal its secrets as easily. The
first two movements and finale are serious-minded, and it’s only in
the third movement Allegretto that Juon lightens up a bit, with music
that smiles. The busy scurrying textures inject an element of affability into
the proceedings.
These attractively seductive scores deserve the best in terms of performance
and engineering and that is just what they get. The Sarastro Quartett’s
utter commitment to the music secures convincing interpretations. The warm,
intimate ambience of the recording venue allows the instrumental textures
to be clearly heard. CPO’s comprehensive annotations, whilst technically
detailed, favourably enlighten the listener. Juon is a composer who deserves
to be heard more.
Stephen Greenbank
Previous review:
Rob Barnett
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