John Blackwood McEwen - String Quartets Vol. 3 (Chilingirian Quartet)

Information

Composer: John Blackwood McEwen

• (01) String Quartet No. 8 in E flat major
• (04) String Quartet No. 2 in A minor
• (08) A Little Quartet 'in modo scotico', String Quartet No. 15

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

Date: 2004
Label: Chandos
https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN%2010182

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Review

Nineteen string quartets? Plenty for the fine Chilingirian Quartet to unveil…

The Chilingirians’ trail-blazing survey of the 19 string quartets by Hawick-born Sir John Blackwood McEwen (1868-1948) goes from strength to strength. The three works on this third volume span nearly four decades, and if none proves as immediately compelling as the bracing Biscay Quartet from 1913 (No 6 in A major, 10/03), they all display an enviable command of the medium.

The half-hour Second Quartet of 1898 makes an agreeable enough discovery (Dvorák and Schumann take a trip through the Scottish Highlands), though it doesn’t match its 1901 successor in terms of melodic profile and easy grace. By the time we reach No 8 in E flat major (1918), McEwen’s native tang is altogether more subtly inflected and its three compact movements breathe a decidedly Gallic air. No 15 (1936) is different again. Subtitled A Little Quartet ‘in modo scotico’, it was composed in Cannes and that it was never performed in the composer’s lifetime is probably due to the formidable technical demands of its finale (a giddy highland fling in all but name).

Inquisitive collectors can rest assured that these are tidy, beautifully shaped performances, immaculately recorded at Snape Maltings. A delightful release in every way.

-- Andrew Achenbach, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classRev/2004/Mar04/McEwen_Quartets_3_.htm
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classRev/2004/May04/McEwen3.htm
https://www.amazon.co.uk/McEwen-String-Quartets-Vol-3/dp/B0001IXRSS

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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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