# Enescu - String Quartet 1 op.22 (SQ review)



## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

The Bednarski Quartet on YouTube 







Enescu's began work on his 1st quartet on New Year's Day 1916 but he had to postpone completing it till 1920 due to the outbreak of the First World War. It was premiered the same year with Enescu, himself, playing the viola. It is a interesting, complex but overly long quartet (around 45 minutes for a performance). There's plenty of colours, textures and interesting ideas on show and Enescu throws the kitchen sink at this technique-wise. There's some pizzicato and sul ponticello playing amongst others creating a ghostly effect and rhythms can be both fluid and choppy. As a virtuoso violinist himself, Enescu knew how to draw effective textures from ensembles, and in this work gave detailed instructions for bowing and phrasing, throughout, making it one of the most demanding works in the catalogue to play and one that players say is one of the most even-handed (as regards the demands, playing time and complexity).
The first movement Allegro moderato has a lot of ideas (too many for me) and the 2nd movement, Andante, strays a lot but once we hit the shorter third movement things get a little more interesting and we start to hear Enescu's colourful invention in more effective use. The best is possibly saved for the finale with its almost-orchestral coda and its use of effective double-stops. Whilst I enjoy Enescu's darker-toned Romanian soundworld here and there, with its husky hues and intricate melodies, this is a quartet that far overstays its welcome (see Dvorak SQ3) and must admit that I have always found difficult to enjoy. I much prefer Enescu's much more concise 2nd quartet.

Whatever, there are 3 recordings of this work (all of which own) but one of these I can't recommend for the sound quality alone. The Voces Quartet recorded both of Enescu's quartets for Olympia in 1977 and the original LP was very good but the transfer to cd was really shrill, brittle and trebly to the point where I find it unlistenable. I've had this CD longer than my other two recordings but it's always been a feat of endurance trying to get through it and tbh, if it wasn't for the nice cover I'd have binned it years ago. It's a shame too as with a decent transfer this would be top of the pile for me. On a more positive note, the other two recordings are both fine. The *Ad Libitum *ensemble, on Naxos, have a warmer, richer sound and a slightly broader approach. Apart from being recorded too low (be prepared to crank the volume on this one) the playing and acoustic of the recording are good. However, my slight preference, if I have to endure this behemoth, is for the *Athenaeum Enesco Quartet, *on CPO, who, I feel, capture the spirit and atmosphere of Enescu a little better. Recorded sound is very good as is the playing which just has that intimacy that's needed.


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