BRITTEN: String Quartets 1, 2 & 3 – Takacs Quartet—Hyperion CDA 68004, 75:55, (Distr. by Harmonia mundi) [11/12/13] *****:
Like Leonard Bernstein, Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) was unique among the last century’s great composers—he was also a distinguished pianist and conductor. His music may be public—he was often commissioned to write music by governments and royalty—but beneath the surface flows private expressions of his life’s conflicts—loss of innocence (mourning, betrayal), society-imposed concealment of his homosexuality, and a yearning for a world of the perfect childhood. As Alex Ross put it, “Britten made his inner landscape as vivid as the rumble of the sea, the cries of the gulls, and the scuttling of the crabs.”
Like most of Bernstein, Britten’s music is conservative and tonal. In his 1964 Aspen Award acceptance speech, Britten said, “I can find nothing wrong…with offering to my fellow-men music which may inspire or comfort them, which may touch them or entertain them, even educate them—directly and with intention. On the contrary, it is the composer’s duty, as a member of society, to speak to or for his fellow human beings.” He was influenced by the music of Mahler, Shostakovich, and Schoenberg, and often used the structures of the suite and theme and variations (his Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Henry Purcell opens the movie Moonrise Kingdom). Clarity of expression and intimacy was obtained by using solo instrumentation in his orchestral works. Yet, there exists in his music the layering of different emotional states at once that communicates the complexity of human life.
Britten is known for his operas—especially Peter Grimes—and other vocal works that were inspired by his love of literature (W. H. Auden was a friend and collaborator). Other compositional influences include the severe landscape of the eastern English coast where he lived and started the celebrated Aldeburgh Festival, and the musicians he wrote for—his lifelong companion, tenor Peter Pears and cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, among others. Yet, beneath the story of his works is an emotional vulnerability that makes his music universally admired and understood. That’s especially true in his string quartets, a medium that lacks the narrative of his vocal works.
Britten, a pacifist, left Britain and journeyed to the United States in 1939, where the New York Philharmonic premiered his Violin Concerto (1940) and his Sinfonia da Requiem (1941). He drove across America to Escondido, California with his companion Peter Pears, where a visit by the famous American patroness Elisabeth Sprague Coolidge resulted in a commission (for $400) to write his First String Quartet. The traditional four-movement structure belied its inventive music, exemplified by the beginning—an eerie cluster of dissonant high tones from the violins and viola accompanied by a cello pizzicato. The close recording and the pulsing strings of the Takacs Quartet make this one of the most striking beginnings of any twentieth century quartet. This opening contrasts with a rhythmically vital section that alternates with the beginning throughout the first movement. A brief allegretto—ended with lingering harmonics in this recording—is followed by a meditative, yearning slow movement and a joyful molto vivace, executed with panache by the Takacs Quartet. Britten judged it ‘my best piece by far.’
The String Quartet No. 2, was premiered on November 21, 1945 in London’s Wigmore Hall, only six months after the major success of Peter Grimes .It was written in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the death of another famous English composer, Henry Purcell, whom Britten admired. The last movement, longer than the first two movements combined, is in the form of a chaconne (passacaglia), a theme and variation structure that Purcell used and Britten updates by using solo passages (cello, viola and first violin) between groups of variations.The first movement contrasts the development of three different themes: melancholy, tender, and dramatically urgent, playing them together before a blissfully serene ending. It’s a masterpiece of emotional intimacy for a composer often criticized for being aloof. A brief, frenetic, and sardonic scherzo—reminiscent of Shostakovich—leads to the lengthy chaconne. Here Britten exposes the depths of his soul—questioning, asking, yearning—a cacophony of voices flooding his mind—then returning to a meditative state, punctuated by ethereal violins and a mournful cello, ending in moments of ineffable serenity. Flawless execution and fearless integrity from the Takacs Quartet in penetrating the depths of Britten’s emotions make this performance unforgettable.
The Third Quartet was composed in 1975, a year before his death and two years after his opera Death in Venice. He returned to Venice to compose the quartet and the two works are linked musically (similar themes and key relationships) and thematically—end of life, spiritual redemption and the search for beauty amidst a failing body (Britten had heart surgery in 1973). The five movements of the Third Quartet are in an arch form—three slow movements and two fast movements sandwiched in between. Duets rocks back and forth tentatively like a boat on the shimmering waters of Venice. Ostinato violently interrupts and abruptly ends in protest. In Solo first violinist Edward Dusinberre plaintively sings a melody above the lower strings and Burlesque follows as a spiky Shostakovian scherzo. The nine minute Recitative and Passacaglia La Serenissima is Britten’s resplendently beautiful farewell to life. Of it, Britten’s partner Peter Pears wrote after its premiere, a few days after Britten died, “a profound beauty more touching than anything else, radiant, wise, new, mysterious—overwhelming.”
The Takacs Quartet performs these works with a depth of understanding and passion that uncovers Britten’s complex inner world while revealing his musical genius through impeccable execution. The close recording divulges every sound without eschewing the reverberation of a live performance. This recording is a perfect chance to discover these twentieth century masterpieces.
—Robert Moon
