John Blackwood McEwen - String Quartets Vol. 2 (Chilingirian Quartet)

Information

Composer: John Blackwood McEwen

• (01) String Quartet No. 13 in C minor
• (05) String Quartet No. 3 in E minor
• (08) String Quartet No. 6 in A major 'Biscay'

Chilingirian Quartet
Levon Chilingirian, violin
Charles Sewart, violin
Asdis Valdimarsdottir, viola
Philip de Groote, cello

Date: 2003
Label: Chandos
https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN%2010084

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Review

Personable discoveries in a revealing series, given exemplary première recordings

This is the fourth disc in Chandos’s enterprising series devoted to Sir John Blackwood McEwen’s chamber and instrumental music. A substantial corpus it constitutes, too; the Scot (who, in 1924, succeeded Sir Alexander Mackenzie as Principal of the Royal Academy of Music) left us no fewer than 19 string quartets and seven violin sonatas.

Of the three quartets gathered here, it’s the Sixth in A major (Biscay) from 1913 that strikes me as the most immediately endearing. Written in the coastal village of Cap Ferret near Bordeaux (where McEwen had settled in order to recuperate from the debilitating insomnia that had undermined his professorial duties at the RAM), Biscay comprises a bracing Allegro moderato seascape (which brings echoes of McEwen’s 1911 Solway Symphony, 6/95), followed by a dusky slow movement (sample the unusual drone of its outer portions) and high-spirited finale.

No 13 in C minor (1928) shares its fluency, but also explores a ruminative mood reminiscent of late Fauré and d’Indy; both outer movements are richly woven and in turn flank a skipping scherzo and deeply felt Andante con moto. By contrast, the Third Quartet of 1901 reverts to the tripartite scheme of Biscay. The elegant opening movement is especially impressive, leading to a playful scherzo and folksy finale (Dvorák with a Scots brogue, if you will).The Chilingirian Quartet does McEwen proud. Production values, too, are first-rate, with Snape Maltings’ acoustic lending an agreeable bloom to proceedings. A hearty recommendation. For what it’s worth, I also enjoyed Olivier Charlier and Geoffrey Tozer’s 2001 collection of three violin sonatas and shall waste no time in making the acquaintance of the preceding volume in the Chilingirian McEwen series as well as Tozer’s anthology of solo piano works (all on Chandos).

-- Andrew Achenbach, Gramophone

More reviews:
MusicWeb International  RECORDING OF THE MONTH
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sir-John-Blackwood-McEwen-Quartets/dp/B00009V905

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John Blackwood McEwen (13 April 1868 – 14 June 1948) was a Scottish classical composer and educator. McEwen was born in Hawick and studied at the Glasgow University and the Royal Academy of Music. He was professor of harmony and composition at the Royal Academy of Music, London, from 1898 to 1924, and principal from 1924 to 1936. Among his students were William Alwyn, Dorothy Howell and Priaulx Rainier. McEwen's music achieved little public recognition, partly because he rarely sought it. Despite that, he nevertheless did much to further the cause of other British composers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Blackwood_McEwen

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Chilingirian Quartet, formed in 1971, is one of the best-known string quartets based in Britain, with numerous recordings over a three-decade career. Its founder is violinist Levon Chilingirian, who is a professor of violin on the faculty of the Royal College and also performs as a soloist. Other members are Charles Sewart, Asdis Valdimarsdottir, and Philip de Groote. The quartet began attracting attention soon after its founding in 1971 and appeared on the BBC early on. It has become one of the best-known quartets around the world, traveling to all six inhabited continents and having played in more than 30 countries.
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/chilingirian-quartet-mn0002173739/biography

http://www.chilingirianquartet.co.uk/

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