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By Eric Taver
 ARIS,
11 December 1998 - After
only ten years together, the Vanbrugh Quartet, based in Ireland, has
embarked on the largest scale endeavor imaginable for this classic
instrumental form: recording Beethoven’s sixteen string quartets.
This huge set of works remains incomparable. Haydn, Bartok or
Shostakovitch also wrote all their lives for this curious ensemble
made up of two violins, a viola and a cello. But none of these
composers ever revolutionised the genre as did Beethoven during the
course of his life; the first and the last of Beethoven's quartets are
as though written by composers stemming from totally different
periods.
The first six quartets are still quite close to the
very 18th century refined wit of "good papa Haydn", as
Beethoven liked to call his teacher. The Seventh Quartet, with its
considerably larger proportions (it lasts more than forty minutes),
and the new spirit of the times, are in every way comparable to the
revolution represented by the orchestral writing in the Third
Symphony, the "Eroica". Finally, the last quartets, composed
after the Ninth Symphony, the "Choral" Symphony, are already
pointing towards the 20th century with their often seemingly arid
sound the first time round and the almost gleeful way they break with
tradition.
The three periods into which Beethoven’s
music is traditionally divided are thus readily apparent in the
quartets: youth, maturity, exploration of new paths. And therein lies
the difficulty in recording the complete quartets: all three styles
must be encompassed, which brings us to the true weakness of this
version by the Vanbrugh Quartet. We can appreciate their freshness,
the aptness of their approach, neither namby-pamby nor uselessly
metaphysical. The overall sonority is homogeneous, even if the first
violin occasionally lets himself go a bit, or if the viola or cello
sometimes sound a bit hollow. These details would be totally
insignificant if there had been a bit more humor in the first quartets
and more apparent shifts in emphasis, or if, on the other hand, the
last quartets had been given a broader reading, as true musical and
human adventures in several movements and not, as seems all too often,
as a series of moments (in this context, the short, rustic scherzos
of the 13th and 14th Quartets are totally successful).
We
should not, however, totally disparage this still young ensemble. In a
few more years, when they have refined their style and enlarged their
range of colors, they may well give us as strong a set of the complete
quartets as that of the Hungarian Quartet (EMI, mono) who they
sometimes call to mind. To discover this Beethoven monument, an
approach by periods may be preferable to a complete set: the greatest
Quartets have often left their marks on just a part of the sixteen
string quartets. By juxtaposing the subtle Budapest Quartet in the
first six quartets (Sony), the virtuoso Alban Berg Quartet in Nos. 7
through 11 (EMI) and the splendid Melos Quartet in the famous and
difficult last five quartets (Deutsche Grammophon), the enthusiast
will more readily discover the immensity of Beethoven than by limiting
himself to a homogeneous complete set, however good it is, which can
by nature only be restrictive.
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