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I wonder why quartets of
international standing have not taken up the Nielsen quartets (or the Berwald or
Stenhammar for that matter). They are marvellous pieces and their neglect outside
Scandinavia strikes me as quite unaccountable. Only a few months ago I was writing of the
Zapolski Quartet on Chandos, though regretting that it was so studied and mannered
(intolerably so) and rarely allowed the music to speak for itself. This newcomer by the
Oslo Quartet, which couples the E flat Quartet (1899) with the F major (1906), is
refreshingly straightforward, full of vitality and spirit and infinitely preferable to the
Zapolski. Both scores are played with evident feeling but without any intrusive expressive
exaggeration. The recordings are a little closely balanced, and as a result fortissimo
passages can sound a touch fierce and wiry, for example in the closing page or so of the
first movement of the F major (seven minutes into track 5). A pity the Oslo doesn’t
have as well-balanced a recording as Chandos and the Danish engineers provide for the
Zapolski. The quartet is scrupulous in observing dynamic markings without advertising the
fact and gives totally dedicated, idiomatic performances. Artistically it is the finest at
any price point. |
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