György Ligeti (1923-2006)
String Quartet No.1 “Métamorphoses nocturnes” (1953-1954)
String Quartet No.2 (1968)
Béla Bartók (1881-1945)
String Quartet No.4 (1928)
Marmen Quartet
rec. 2023, Wyastone Concert Hall, Monmouth, UK
BIS BIS-2693 SACD [68]

Ligeti’s two string quartets appear quite regularly on disc, but are not paired often with any other music or with the very short, early Andante and Allegro. Here we have Béla Bartók’s substantial and apposite Quartet No. 4, which makes this release all the more enticing. This is also the Marmen Quartet’s recording debut, and an auspicious one it is! The quartet, formed in 2013 at the Royal College of Music in London, has received numerous accolades; they took first prizes in string quartet competitions and performed at leading European venues. They seem very much at home in the music on this disc.

Bartók’s influence on Ligeti should not be underestimated. Indeed, one of his favourite works was his senior colleague’s Fourth Quartet. As Richard Steinitz notes in the definitive study György Ligeti: Music of the Imagination, he was inspired by Bartók’s third and fourth quartets in the composition of the String Quartet No. 1 “Métamorphoses nocturnes,” particularly the “chromatically intense melodic and harmonic language” and the “textural contrasts” that one finds in this early Ligeti work. Yet there is no mistaking the originality of the younger composer here: his sense of humour and the “explosive and disruptive forces which threaten to overthrow orderly progression”. One can recognize similar features in his other pieces from this period, such as his Musica ricercata for piano and the Six Bagatelles for wind quintet derived from the piano work.

Ligeti’s First Quartet has been very lucky on disc, nowhere more than with the recording by the Arditti Quartet on Sony, part of the indispensable Ligeti Edition (later continued on Teldec/Warner as the Ligeti Project). The Arditti have been and continue to be my benchmark for these quartets. I used their recordings primarily for comparison with this new one, while also acknowledging more recent competitors: Artemis (Erato), Parker (Naxos) and Diotima (Pentatone).

Technically, the Marmen is every bit as fine as those others. The most obvious difference between them and the Arditti is in the recording itself. The latter are recorded more closely, while with the Marmen one can appreciate more the dynamic range of the music. There is also greater flexibility in the Marmen’s interpretation that enhances the overall effect of the music. Still, the straighter account of the Arditti and the closer recording contain their own rewards, and may be the best way to become acquainted with this remarkable work.

Although the quartet is nominally in a single movement, it has separate sections. Some recordings have as many as 12 tracks (Artemis, Diotima), while others as few as 4 (Parker). Marmen and Arditti both have 8 tracks, making it easy to compare these accounts. In the second section, marked Vivace capriccioso, the Arditti are especially dramatic and powerful, while the Marmen are livelier with notable characterization. In the following Adagio, mesto, while both capture the sorrow with sensitivity, the Marmen’s tempo is a bit slower. In the Presto fourth section, jaunty and rhythmic, the Arditti better capture the humour than the more serious and speedier Marmen. At the same time, both groups have the measure of the waltz in the sixth section with its portamento scoring and capture the humour there well. Overall, there is little to choose between these accounts.

The Ligeti quartets here are separated by one of Bartók’s greatest compositions, the String Quartet No. 4. It is cast in five movements in arch form. The third movement, Non troppo lento, is its centerpiece with a shorter, quick movement on either side. The first movement Allegro is in sonata form. The Allegro molto finale, dance-like in ternary form, is based on themes from the first movement. This is a tough piece for both performers and listeners, but its rewards are many. It has received numerous recordings—most often in complete sets of Bartók’s six quartets. While such illustrious ensembles as the Juilliard (Sony) and Takács Quartet (Decca), among many others, have made outstanding recordings of these works, I have chosen the Emerson Quartet on DG for my comparison of the Fourth Quartet with the Marmen.

I first became acquainted with this music from the 1960s’ LP set by the Juilliard, but have since come to prefer the Emerson. Bartók holds no terrors here for the Marmen Quartet. There are differences in interpretation, of course, and, as with the Ligeti works, the recording has a somewhat greater range of dynamics than the more upfront Emerson. The Emerson are brusque and dramatic in the first movement Allegro. The Marmen are slower and more thoughtful with a wider range of dynamics. However, the Marmen’s slides are much more pronounced and the atmosphere more colourful. Both groups excel in the spookiness of the second movement scherzo, played with mutes throughout, as they do the Allegretto pizzicato fourth movement’s dance-like nature with all its plucking and snapping. The slow movement, beginning with a soulful cello solo, is an example of the composer’s characteristic “night music”, at times still and meditative, at others startling with its pizzicato plucks. The Marmen are more drawn out than the Emerson (6:03 versus 5:12), but both express the music superbly.

The SACD concludes with Ligeti’s Quartet No. 2, a work of his maturity that also includes the Chamber Concerto and Ten Pieces for Wind Quintet. Whereas the First Quartet contains obvious folk influences of Bartók, the Second Quartet is pure Ligeti. Arnold Whittall, in his rather erudite booklet essay, remarks that Ligeti approached the expressionistic challenge of this quartet seriously with “extraordinarily detailed annotations to the score which the players must negotiate—indeed, the most wildly disruptive effects often come with the most precise instructions about how they are to be achieved”.

I used for comparison the recordings by the Arditti, Artemis, Parker, and Jack (Wigmore Hall) in my collection. Interestingly, the Marmen Quartet have the longest timing (22:21), and the Arditti the shortest (20:02). That said, there is nothing unduly protracted in the new account. All of these do justice to the piece’s five movements whether it be the pizzicato slap starting the work or the contrast between the quiet passages and the vehement one; the tremolos in the fifth movement, sounding like a swarm of insects; or the percussive plucking and ticking of the mechanistic third movement. The Marmen readily compete with the other accounts and have the advantage of BIS’s SACD recording with its broad dynamic range and natural presence.

BIS is to be congratulated on its physical product, as well. No sign of plastic anywhere on the cardboard case! There are numerous choices on disc for these quartets, but this one is rather special in its inclusion of the Bartók, giving the listener more value for the outlay than most of the alternatives.

Leslie Wright

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