Lennox Berkeley - String Quartets Nos. 1-3 (Maggini Quartet)

Information

Composer: Lennox Berkeley

• (01) String Quartet No. 1, Op. 6
• (05) String Quartet No. 2, Op. 15
• (08) String Quartet No. 3, Op. 76

Maggini Quartet

Lorraine McAslan & David Angel, violins

Martin Outram, viola

Michal Kaznowski, cello

Date: 2007

Label: Naxos

https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.570415

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Review

ARTISTIC QUALITY: 9 / SOUND QUALITY: 8

Lennox Berkeley (1903-1989) may be best known for his choral compositions, but he wrote in a wide variety of forms, winning a reputation as a superb craftsman if not as a strikingly individual voice. Influences include French music of his formative years, Stravinskian neo-classicism, and Britten, along with traces of jazz and Bartók. All of these surface to one degree or another in his three string quartets, written at different stages of his career (1935, 1941, and 1970). They’re well worth hearing and exhibit refreshing energy and individuality, especially in performances as committed as those of the Maggini Quartet.

Family resemblances among Berkeley’s quartets abound, with the last two tighter, more concise than the first, though the latter is full of inventive ideas. Outer movements are energetic, often with driving rhythms and unison statements that develop into passages of active counterpoint. Movements often end on a note of ambiguity, with elegiac or nostalgic codas finished off with a question mark.

Transitional passages test the performers; periods of rhythmic vigor morph into lushly Romantic statements, or more often, gently rocking melodies. Slow movements come off best: the Lento of the Third Quartet, for example, is an inward-looking piece whose ruminative cast is rudely punctuated by a more active central section, while the Andante of the First quartet is marked by an engagingly expressive melody over a walking bass line. Ghostly harmonics effectively set moods, as in the brooding ending of the First quartet’s first movement.

The Maggini players’ bright tone, passionate energy, and obvious sympathy with Berkeley’s idiom make a strong case for these works. The engineering is a bit top-heavy, scanting the bass line, but otherwise it’s well detailed. An attractive issue, exploring a neglected sector of Berkeley’s work.

-- Dan Davis, ClassicsToday

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2008/mar08/Berkeley_8570415.htm

https://www.classical-music.com/reviews/miscellaneous/l-berkeley-2-2/

https://www.allmusic.com/album/berkeley-string-quartets-nos-1-3-mw0001427676

https://www.naxos.com/reviews/reviewslist.asp?catalogueid=8.570415&languageid=EN

https://www.amazon.com/Berkeley-String-Quartets-Nos-1-3/dp/B00112UQVY

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Lennox Berkeley (12 May 1903 – 26 December 1989) was an English composer. Born in Oxford, England, he went to Paris to study music with Nadia Boulanger in 1927. Berkeley also studied with Maurice Ravel, often cited as a key influence in his technical development as a composer. Berkeley's earlier music is broadly tonal, influenced by the neoclassical music of Stravinsky. However, from the mid-1950s, he started including tone rows and aspects of serial technique in his compositions. From 1946 to 1968, Berkeley taught at the Royal Academy of Music. His pupils included Richard Rodney Bennett and John Tavener.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lennox_Berkeley

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The Maggini Quartet, formed in 1988, is a British string quartet. The Quartet's name derives from the famous 16th century Brescian violin maker Giovanni Paolo Maggini. Maggini Quartet is known for championing the British repertoire, and has made many CD recordings for publishers such as Naxos Records. In addition to their concert activity, the members of the Quartet have an international reputation as chamber music coaches. Its current members are Julian Leaper (violin 1), Ciaran McCabe (violin 2, replaced David Angel, who died unexpectedly in 2017), Martin Outram (viola) and Michal Kaznowski (cello).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggini_Quartet
http://maggini.net/

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