Northern and Southern Quartets
with JOHN HAYWARD-WARBURTON
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Nielsen's Hall of Mirrors
So far, we have heard music in the Southern European tradition, braided
with warm emotion, designed for the salon, dining room or sociable concert.
Yet from the same decade come works looking forward, with unique vision,
to a more objective future. The first volume of the Oslo String Quartet's survey of Nielsen's quartets contains the second published pair
of these works which date from 1898 (Op.14, E flat major) and 1906 (F major,
Op.19), though a revision of the latter was made around 1919 preceding the
work's re-publication as Op.44 and this is the version under consideration
here. Both of these pieces are from the earlier years of Nielsen's maturity
and exhibit that style which leads so easily to us thinking of him as an
enigma. Whereas the main European musical branches at this time were shaped
like the prongs of a pitchfork, with the Romantic tradition on one side,
and the chromaticism which was to explode into the shepherded chaos of atonality
on the other, Nielsen left this model altogether to become an individual
voice; these quartets are ample demonstrations.
The two works are, of course, strongly tonal. However, while the disc
of Italian music might suggest an environment of familiar rooms and comfort,
the Nielsen takes the listener into a hall of mirrors where everything is
visible, but often seen from many angles at once, some of them unexpected.
The music is entirely approachable, full of melody, but reveals more about
the nature of music itself than most late-19th century chamber works.
Strong characterisation marks each movement on the Nielsen disc; within
the first forty seconds of the finale of the Op.14 Quartet (Allegro coraggioso
- Allegro molto: click
here to listen) two distinct ideas, marked by equally distinct playing
from the ensemble, begin their journey. Likewise, the second movement of
the Op.44 Quartet, marked Adagio con sentimento religioso (click here to listen),
with its chorale-like opening, resembles nothing that has gone before. It
is followed by a scherzo (Allegretto moderato ed innocente)
that succeeds in being both serious and playful simultaneously (click to listen).
Despite the later revision of the F major Quartet, its language is sufficiently
close to that of the E flat major Quartet to render this coupling satisfactory
to a listener not wanting upsets in the course of the disc. The difference
in string tone produced by the Oslo String Quartet and the Quartetto Puccini
causes the ensembles to sound further than half a continent apart; the Italian
players' instruments effuse warmth which the Norwegians (either through
playing or recording technique) do not. But cold water is refreshing, as
Nielsen himself suggested; a philosophy that is seen to be effective on
this disc.
I am surprised that the recording's producer did not request re-takes
of at least three passages where a minor slip of intonation risks obscuring
an important tonal turning-point. But, other than noticing this, I have
no complaint; on a stage, these performances would be remembered only for
the good they bring which, in the end, remains the overall impression of
this disc.
Copyright © John Hayward-Warburton,
May 6th 1999
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