Polish Chamber Music
Dafô String Quartet
rec. 1999-2023, various venues in Poland and Germany
Dux DUX2040 [5 CDs: 298]

This attractively packaged box celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Dafô String Quartet. Across their career, they have been known for specialising in contemporary chamber music, notably the music of their homeland Poland. The box brings together their previous releases. The booklet notes include a ‘conversation’ with the players, who say that this set “includes selected works important to us and above all composers important to us”. The recordings at various venues are from 1999-2023.

Apart from Karol Szymanowski’s quartets, the music here is new to me, as is the ensemble itself (the curious the name was derived from the first letters of the surnames of the original players). It is important to say straight away that the playing is pretty sensational. Individually, it is mightily impressive. Also, the complexity of many of these scores means that one cannot underestimate the time and effort required for forging the coherent and convincing performances.

A case in point is the first disc of works by Krzysztof Penderecki. The String Trio is a densely argued, often aggressive work. After a group of slashing chords, it gives an extended, angular soliloquy to each instrument in turn. Again, I was struck not just by the technical brilliance of every player, but by how well their instruments are matched tonally and expressively. This kind of blending of timbres and style must be the result of long, intensive work. This is especially apparent in the fraught second movement Vivace. The Dafô players perform it with exactly the right balance of expressive danger and technical security.

The single-movement String Quartets No 1 and No 2 are short (6:02 and 7:36). The notes suggest that they almost form a single work: the second continues on from the first. Penderecki seems to have been experimenting as much with texture as form. In the time a long review like this can be allotted, it is hard to discern the structure. Without seeing the scores, it is difficult to work out quite how many of the sounds are generated by the stringed instruments. I have nothing but admiration for the skill of the playing, but this does not appeal to me as music.

Der unterbrochene Gedanke [the broken thought] is a miniature of almost three minutes, written two decades after the second quartet. In the words of the slightly clumsily translated booklet, it “is saturated with catastrophism and dramaturgy”. This work, and indeed most of the remainder of this disc, is less concerned with texture and timbre than with form and musical material. The structure of the work even in this compressed time frame is more discernible.

The notes quote the composer with reference to the Clarinet Quartet. He wrote it when he was moving away from the drama and extreme gestures of his earlier work, and sought something of greater musical and expressive clarity. Three members of the quartet are joined by clarinettist Arkadiusz Adamski in this thoroughly enjoyable work. Albeit in a contemporary idiom, this finds more of a balance between contemporary and ‘traditional’ idioms, right down to the four-movement form. The work is dominated in terms of length by the final Abschied which has a sense of haunted stillness beautifully executed by all the players.

The String Quartet No 3 is subtitled “Blätter eines nicht geschriebenen Tagebuches” [leaves of an unwritten diary]. The idea is that the work ‘recollects’ memories – including music – from earlier in the composer’s life. There is again a single movement, here lasting 18:06. The writer of the notes suggests references to the quartet traditions of Beethoven and Haydn; also, “one can hear echoes of Béla Bartók’s oeuvre”. The former seem to have melodies or harmony refracted through a 21st century lens, perhaps, while the latter is more explicit. The very high technical demands on the players are dispatched with audacious ease.

The String Quartet No 4 was left incomplete at the composer’s death. Claus-Dieter Ludwig completed the third, final movement, working from the composer’s sketches. Another compact work, it lasts just over eleven minutes. It is strikingly different from the early quartets’ dense, almost cluttered textures and incident. It makes the music more intelligible, for me at least. I do not know the extent of the sketches, but the completion sounds effective and idiomatic.

All the good impressions of the calibre of recording and performance continue to disc two. Szymanowski’s two quartets are coupled with Grażyna Bacewicz’s String Quartet No 4. Another consistent feature of the Dafô Quartet’s style is apparent here to good effect: the collective tone is quite lean and muscular. Yes, every player can float a lyrical line with great beauty as and when required. The second movement of Szymanowski’s first quartet, Andantino semplice in modo d’una canzone, is a case in point. Yet they do not rely very much on a dense and heavy projected sound, so the complexities and detail of all three quartets here are apparent.

Szymanowski’s quartets come from 1917 and 1927. I must admit, I had forgotten just how modern they can still sound. He uses the limited scale of the four instruments to explore formal, harmonic and structural aspects of composition quite different from the luxuriance of many of his orchestral scores. For example, the finale of the first quartet employs polytonality – a different key signature for each instrument. Naturally, the more successful the performance is, the less aware one is of the polytonality – and the Dafô are very successful.

Szymanowski wrote the second quartet when he was exploring the potential of Polish national and folk music, but any direct influences have been thoroughly absorbed. Except for perhaps an odd stamping rhythm, one will struggle to perceive anything explicitly nationalistic. Both quartets have three movements and are compact, running roughly 18 and 17 minutes here. As significant works in their composer’s output, it is no surprise that they are well represented in the catalogue; the Maggini Quartet on ASV even offered the same coupling. Not knowing these other versions, I cannot compare. In isolation, these performances offer strikingly fine interpretation and execution.

The same can be said of Bacewicz’s String Quartet No 4. Her star seems to be on the rise. Two current cycles of her symphonies and a range of other music appeared on various labels. My knowledge of her work is very limited, but this is an impressive quartet. Many composer/performers wrote music for their own use, but I cannot think of many who spent eighteen years as an international-calibre violin soloist before focusing nearly exclusively on composing and teaching.

It is interesting to compare directly the two composers represented here. Bacewicz consciously uses denser textures. Her ability to create an almost orchestral weight of sound shows her innate understanding of string technique, and the Dafô Quartet are fully able to realise this vision. Written nearly a quarter of a century after Szymanowski’s second quartet, the work is less obviously modernistic. The folk influences, especially in the closing Allegro giocoso, are more immediately apparent. So, the piece is easier for a listener to grasp early on. In a slightly simplistic way, it might be said that Szymanowski saw the challenge of writing for just four players as writing as little as possible with the maximum effect. Bacewicz seeks to maximise the effect of the material that can be wrung from such a small group. The piece is again relatively compact, just around twenty-two minutes for the three movements, but it packs a remarkably wide range of expression and musical incident into that time span. Again, the catalogue shows a reasonable range of recordings. I find the playing of the Dafô Quartet compelling and engaging throughout.

Two discs are devoted to Henryk Górecki’s three string quartets. For many listeners, his music may be defined by the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs for soprano and orchestra. It received blanket plays on commercial classical radio stations in the early 1990s. But he wrote a great deal of other music before and after the symphony, and much of it is quite different. These quartets, a case in point. The Kronos Quartet commissioned all three, gave first performances, and recorded them as well.

The demands on the players are again extreme, but in very different ways than Penderecki’s works. The latter creates polyphonic textures, and individual musical lines are woven together with virtuosic complexity. In contrast, Górecki writes with almost no polyphony. He either has great slabs of string tone moving with the same rhythm, or his music divides clearly into one or more instruments accompanying and the remainder ‘leading’. Sudden juxtapositions of dynamic or texture or stasis/action are common. Another recurring contrast is ‘harshness’ and ‘sweetness’, whether in the tonal language or the required style of playing. Once more, I was struck by the extreme skill of the Dafô Quartet. They sustain long passages of extremely harsh and loud playing, but it does not become coarse or uncontrolled.

The Polish/English booklet offers disappointingly few details on these works. On the other hand, the long Wiki article on String Quartet No 1 “Already it is dusk” interestingly points to Górecki’s detailed directions for players, including non risparmiare l’arco [do not spare the bow]. That very much chimes with the required extreme playing style, so well executed here. The article outlines Górecki’s complex compositional structure in this work; a single movement plays for 18:48 here. To be honest, almost none of that formal detail registered when I listened to the work. The abiding impression was that of the extremes. The central span, roughly 6:00-13:00, has a sustained almost mechanistic aggression that must be tremendously hard to sustain as well as the Dafô Quartet do here. The article references [folk] music of the Polish Highlanders. In its stamping energy, I suppose, there is a sense of a distilled folk idiom. Yet despite the obvious calibre of this performance, I struggled to get much if any pleasure from listening to it.

According to the booklet, the direct inspiration for String Quartet No 2 “Quasi una fantasia” was Beethoven: the four movements last a more substantial thirty-four minutes or so. The notes refer to “various classicist allegories – especially those relating to formal structure”, but Górecki continues to deploy blocks of tone and a clear divide between accompanying and lead material. In this case, the cello plays a single even repeating note for the first five minutes of the 8:06 opening movement. The second movement Deciso – energico has a clear folk dance stamping energy. The ghosts of Shostakovich and Bartók are also clear influences. This type of writing benefits greatly from the Dafô Quartet’s lean and sinewy style, with the energy implicit in the writing tightly focussed.

The ‘slow movement’ placed third, Arioso – andante cantabile, has resonant common chords accompanying the violins who play their melody in clashing minor ninths: an octave plus a semitone have the effect of being out of tune. The Quartet shows exemplary skill at sustaining this demanding musical effect. The ear adjusts to the clashing sonority in an intriguing way. The finale maintains a driving, stamping energy for the first 7:30 of its 10:52 length. Then Górecki does another of his “cliff edge” transitions from fast and loud to soft and still. The notes refer to these three minutes as an epilogue. More mysteriously – the notes mention but do not explain it – the first violin plays a chilled and slightly distorted version of Silent Night over the other players’ uneasy chords. The use of such a familiar and specific melody is curious. A context or explanation would be helpful for the new listener such as me. A guess: this is a cross-comparison to Penderecki’s Symphony No 2 ‘Christmas’ (1979-1980) which references the same melody three times.

The second quartet is considerably longer and more substantial than the first quartet. I find it more convincing, based on limited and superficial appreciation of both works. I was better able to grasp and engage with the music across its four strongly differentiated movements.

The String Quartet No.3 ‘…songs are sung’ is on a still larger scale: five movements in 48:40. The notes say that the work was started in 1995 but completed a decade later. Slightly frustratingly, there is again no explanation of why or where in the work this hiatus occurred. I found a more extended analysis of the work. Let me quote.

He composed the new quartet methodically and rapidly, finishing it in January 1995, but no one could have foreseen that it would be over ten years before he delivered the new score. The dedication reads: ‘To the KRONOS Quartet, which has waited patiently for this quartet for so many years (May, 2005)’.

In a commentary attached to the end of the manuscript, Górecki confesses: ‘Only now, in 2005, have I amended it here and there and written it out neatly. In the intervening years there were several dates set for the work’s premiere by the KRONOS Quartet, who also commissioned this quartet—but I continued to hold back from releasing it to the world. I don’t know why’.

The title derives from the Russian poet Velimir Khlebnikov’s short poem:

When horses die, they breathe
When grasses die, they wither,
When suns die, they go out,
When people die, they sing songs.

The notes suggest that the work is “an extensive musical commentary revolving around passing and experiencing and accepting death”. There are two slow movements of roughly ten and eleven minutes, a central short Allegro sempre ben marcato and further two slow movements of eleven and ten minutes.

A couple of striking features differentiate this work from the other two quartets – there is no ‘cliff-edge’. The central Allegro has the kind of motoric minimalism: small motivic and rhythmic cells repeated with a slow overall rate of harmonic change, encountered elsewhere. But across the work I had a strong impression of lyricism, literally songs without words. Notable too – although not mentioned in any writings about this work I have found – is an archaic quality to the melodic shapes. It made me wonder if Górecki had sourced, or at least been inspired by, old chants or hymns for the dead. At one passing moment, the music recalled Andrzej Panufnik’s use of the Bogurodzica plainchant that dominates his Sinfonia Sacra – not that Górecki employs that melody, just something of similar shape and spirit.

As always, the work makes considerable demands on the players. Here, it is more to do with focus, concentration and sense of line. Long, essentially unvarying movements are very easy to get lost in, in terms of musical direction and thought. It is very hard to sustain the music technically and intellectually, but unsurprisingly the Dafô Quartet are again superbly convincing.

I continue to be surprised how Górecki suddenly inserts a few bars of near-Hollywood lushness into the middle of an otherwise austere passage. I still do not know why or what this represents, or why elsewhere in the work he specifically quotes from Szymanowski’s String Quartet No 2. The analysis suggests that the work is “preoccupied with the elusiveness of memory, with the mind’s ability to repeat ideas but to lose itself in them through that very repetition”. The listener new to the work must reach a level of familiarity where these ‘memories’ and their transformations can be recognised and contextualised.

The fifth disc is devoted to the music of Paweł Łukaszewski, a composer new to me but apparently best known for his sacred choral compositions. The booklet refers to “formal simplicity and harmonic gentleness”, not that those qualities are immediately apparent in the quartets that begin the disc. The spiky angular writing, both melodically and rhythmically, has a collage-like effect. The resulting rhythms and melodic lines are compounded from fragmentary elements allotted to each instrument. So, this is yet another challenge for the Dafô Quartet: to play with such accuracy and tonal balance that the listener’s ear only hears a single stream.

All four quartets are brief. The longest No 4 does not reach fifteen minutes. Three are three-movement works, No 3 adds a fourth movement. Given the compactness of each movement and indeed the work, there is little sense of Łukaszewski ‘developing’ the music in a traditional sense. Neither does he explore the expressive potential in the way that Górecki does. Instead, there is more of a study-like approach: one musical gesture or idea is presented, briefly expanded and then left.

The excellent Dafô players dispatch the patchwork writing with seeming ease. I sometimes had a cynical thought that this music might well be written on a computer, where the playback gives the composer little sense of just how hard it is for real players to interlock the fragmentary parts! Not that this seems to phase the Dafô at all. That said, the scale and immediate appeal of the music make for an easier first listen than much of the rest of this box set. All the performances here are once more greatly aided by the clarity and precision of the playing and the engineering, which allows the ear to hear all the instruments with ease.

The disc is completed by Łukaszewski’s two Piano Quintets. The notes suggest that they introduce “a wider range of expressive means”. In the first quintet, Łukaszewski keeps the piano initially juxtaposed against the string group, who are given a quasi-orchestral unity. The engineering is very good at allowing the pianist Marek Szlezer’s playing to be very present without overwhelming the string writing. The works run to just around seventeen and ten minutes. In the faster movements, Łukaszewski combines a mechanistic quality with neurotic syncopations that are rather compelling in their delirious energy. I came to this composer via this instrumental music, so it is quite a shock to listen online to his better known choral music. In very general terms, it has a serenity and otherworldly beauty mainly absent from these chamber works.

So, this is a valuable – and exceptionally well-played – celebration of the career to date of the Dafô String Quartet. Clearly, this is not meant to be a comprehensive survey of Polish contemporary music for string quartet. Rather, it brings together works and composers the ensemble consider most important to them.

The five discs are attractively presented in slim digipaks tucked into a robust cardboard sleeve. The accompanying booklet is disappointing, simply because if music is as unfamiliar as most of this repertoire, one would be helped by considerably more musical detail and context of composition. The density and intricacy of much of this music mean that its secrets will not be immediately obvious even after several listens. Yet, in the hands of the Dafô String Quartet, you can be certain of being guided by the best.

Nick Barnard

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Contents:

CD1
Krzysztof Penderecki (1933-2020)
String Trio (1991)
String Quartet No 1 (1960)
String Quartet No 2 (1968)
Der unterbrochene Gedanke for String Quartet (1988)
Quartet for Clarinet and String Trio (1993)
String Quartet No 3 Blätter eines nicht geschriebenen Tagebuches (2008)
String Quartet No 4 (2016)

CD2
Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937)
String Quartet No 1 in C major, Op 37 (1917)
String Quartet No 2, Op 56 (1927)
Grażyna Bacewicz (1909-1969)
String Quartet No 4 (1951)

CD3
Henryk Mikołaj Górecki (1933-2010)
String Quartet No 1 ‘It is Already Dusk’, Op 62 (1988)
String Quartet No 2 ‘Quasi una Fantasia’, Op 64 (1990/1991)

CD4
Henryk Mikołaj Górecki
String Quartet No 3 “Songs are Sung”, Op 67 (2005)

CD5
Paweł Łukaszewski (b. 1968)
String Quartet No 1 (1994)
String Quartet No 2 (2000)
String Quartet No 3 (2004)
String Quartet No 4 (2021)
Piano Quintet No 1 (2013)
Piano Quintet No 2 (2017)

Performers:

Dafô String Quartet:
Justyna Duda (1st violin), Danuta Augustyn (2nd violin), Aneta Dumanowska (viola)
[CD1 1-13, CD3 2-5, CD4 1-5, CD5 1-20]
Kinga Roesler (viola)
[CD2 1-9, CD3 1-5, CD5 1-3]
Anna Armatys (cello)

Arkadiusz Adamski (clarinet)
[CD1 6-9 ]

Marek Szlezer (piano)
[CD5 14-20]