Saverio Mercadante (1795-1870)
Flute Quartet No. 1 in G (1814)
Flute Quartet No. 2 in F (1814)
Flute Quartet in E minor (1816)
Mario Carbotta (flute)
Mario Hossen (violin), Marta Potulska (viola), Attilia Kiyoko Cernitori (cello)
rec. 2022, Auditorium Stelio Molo, Lugano, Italy
Dynamic CDS8006 [61]

One of the first records I received, as a teenage classical-music enthusiast, was of the Mozart quartets for flute and strings, and on eight-track tape, no less. It was a hole-in-the-wall release, featuring the sort of low-profile Central European performers you might have found on the lesser Vox imprints – but I enjoyed the contrast of bright flute with darker strings, a device that would prove useful to lesser Classical composers as well.

Mercadante, while hardly a nonentity is better known among music mavens than among the listening public at large, thanks partly to those duelling flutists, James Galway and Jean-Pierre Rampal. His gracious constructions are always clear, though generically “tuneful” rather than memorably melodic. Sometimes the tone seems off, as with the almost stately opening of the G major quartet. The theme-and-variations finale of the F major, on the other hand, sounds oddly noncommittal, only making an impression in the closing variation’s cheerful decorations.

Marco Carbatta, primus inter pares rather than a “soloist”, does particularly well by the two earlier quartets, exploiting the flute’s propensity for fast staccato runs and for skipping through the registers. A few awkward moments – the occasional ungainly breath or clumsy upward flip – could as easily be attributed to the writing as to the execution. His string partners bring more enthusiasm than polish. The G major quartet passes some insecure chording, and its slowish Siciliana lacks the needed lilt. In the F major quartet, they lose momentum in the first movement’s chugging transition, and register no change of affect at the unexpected harmonic shift in the Larghetto.

The larger-scaled E minor quartet, in four movements instead of three, reaches for a Mozartian “operatic” style. Unlike the earlier scores, which keep the strings distinctly subordinate, this one brings in some back-and-forth trade-offs between the flute and the violin. Its Minuetto, with marked stresses, is more scherzo-ish, with a leisurely, gemütlich trio; conversely, the Largo, after an assertive opening, proceeds in fits and starts.

Unfortunately, the piece mostly draws attention to the strings’ weaknesses. Despite the occasional exaggerated accent, the sonority is too insubstantial, insufficiently unified to sustain Mercadante’s attempt at turbulent drama in a cautiously paced first movement – Carbotta pushes forward in brief bursts of unaccompanied passagework – or bring linear coherence to the short, fragmented motifs of the Largo.  Even Carbotta isn’t entirely immune, letting go of a couple of piercing high notes in the latter two movements.

The sound is fine. But it’s probably worth waiting for someone to do this music better.

Stephen Francis Vasta
stevedisque.wordpress.com/blog

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