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Berwald: String Quartets Nos. 1-3

~ Franz Berwald (Artist), Yggdrasil Quartet (Artist)

5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)

Price:	�12.69 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Product details

Audio CD (1 Jan 2000)
SPARS Code: DDD
Number of Discs: 1
Label: BIS
ASIN: B0000264CB
Other Editions: MP3 Download

Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 145,985 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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On this CD:

String Quartet No. 1 in G minor
Composed by Franz Berwald
String Quartet No. 2 in A minor
Composed by Franz Berwald
String Quartet No. 3 in E flat
Composed by Franz Berwald

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

Although Berwald's symphonies are his core achievement, his chamber music is every bit as inventive and enjoyable as you might expect. Of his three string quartets, the first (1818) is an astonishingly assured and original work for a self-taught composer still in his early 20s. Haydn and early Beethoven are in evidence, but there's a harmonic tang that suggests Berwald knew his traditional sources. At 32 minutes, its on a larger scale that his later quartets (both 1849). While the second is again in four movements, the third takes Berwald's formal ingenuity to new limits. Its chinese-box format encloses the "Scherzo" within the slow movement, itself contained within the opening movement. Of course, this doesn't make listening any less enjoyable, especially when the performances are as sympathetic and attuned to Berwald's idiom as are the Yggdrasil's. In terms of sound, this disc is a model of quartet recording--well focused in a natural acoustic. Whether or not you've already acquired the symphonies, the quartets are equally compulsive listening. --Richard Whitehouse

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5.0 out of 5 stars Berwald's Strangely Neglected String Quartets Given Strong Performances, 23 Oct 2006

By	J Scott Morrison (Middlebury VT, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

Franz Berwald (1796-1868) is primarily known, of course, for his symphonies and they have secured a place, albeit not quite central, in the orchestral repertoire. What is strange is that his three string quartets, which are every bit as excellent as his symphonies, have not secured anything other than a very marginal place in concert programs of the present day. Until this recording was made in 1997 the three quartets had not been recorded, although I recall that the Chilingirian Quartet recorded a couple of them.

The First Quartet (1818) was written a good thirty years before the Second and Third (both from 1849), and Berwald, essentially self-taught, was only twenty-two when he wrote it. Beethoven and Schubert were still alive and writing music; Haydn had been dead only a few years. It is clear that Berwald had studied their works, particularly the early and middle Beethoven quartets and all of Haydn's extraordinary oeuvre. The First Quartet is confidently constructed. In the usual four movements, it sounds a bit like Beethoven but there are some unusual harmonic twists that, it turns out, would later be seen to be characteristic of Berwald's personal style. What is so amazing, though, is that Berwald's handling of a large form -- the quartet lasts over half an hour, much longer than the two later quartets -- is remarkably self-assured. This ability to handle big forms would be seen again and again in his symphonic output. At the time of this quartet, though, he had not yet written a symphony.

The Second Quartet is terse yet lyrical. By now, it seems, Berwald had digested Beethoven's late quartets and although they do not break new ground, the handling of formal concerns is influenced by Beethoven's experiments in that area. The Third Quartet, though, charts new territory for Berwald. It is in five movements that are played without pause and is among the pioneers of arch form. Construction is almost palindromic with a scherzo enclosed inside two slow movements which are themselves enclosed in the outer fast movements. More dramatic than the earlier quartets, it reminds me in some ways of Berwald's Sinfonie S�rieuse, not least because the Scherzo is embedded in the slow movement.

The Yggdrasil Quartet plays with a lean and sinewy yet refined tone that is appropriate for the quartets, especially the Second and Third. They convey both the drama and lyricism inherent in these romantic quartets. Recorded sound is excellent. There is some air around the quartet's sound so that the impact of the recorded sound is immedidate without being claustrophobic.

Recommended.

Scott Morrison

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