Wellesz: String Quartets (cpo) - MusicWeb International

Egon Wellesz (1885-1974)
String Quartet No.2 in G minor, op.20 (1915-1916)
String Quartet No.5, op.60 (1943)
String Quartet No.7, op.66 (1948)
Aron Quartett
rec. June 2019 (No.5), October 2019 (No.2), December 2022 (No.7), Konzertsaal der Musikschule Bräuhausgasse, Vienna, Austria
cpo 555 617-2 [74]

Egon Wellesz was a distinguished Austrian composer, teacher and musicologist. A pupil of Arnold Schoenberg and Guido Adler, he taught at the University of Vienna until the Anschluss in 1938, after which he settled in England. He became Reader in Byzantine music at Oxford. Though briefly interned as an enemy alien during WWII, he continued lecturing. He later resumed composition, producing nine symphonies and numerous chamber works and operas. His style evolved from serialism to a more diatonic idiom, often echoing Mahlerian breadth. A key figure in the International Society of Contemporary Music, he fostered Anglo-European musical dialogue. Egon Wellesz died in Oxford and was buried in Vienna.

I am beholden to the authors of the detailed liner notes.

The earliest work on this disc is the String Quartet No.2 in G minor, op.20. At the time of its composition, Wellesz was a lecturer in music history at the University of Vienna. Certainly, the slow-paced opening Sehr ruhig (very quiet) gives little indication of the upheavals in Europe at that time. This typically calm and thoughtful music only occasionally gives rise to passion and angst. Tonality is present, but a little stretched from the key centre. The second movement is a robust Kräftig bewegt (strongly moved). The liner notes explain that it is in the form of a rondo, predicated around “a striking main theme” with a hint of Baroque. The episodes are often truncated, use previously heard tunes and subtly transition from one to the other.

The Scherzo is short, rhythmic and pithy, with a surprisingly lovely trio section. This relaxed mood is retained in the finale, Ruhevoll (peaceful). There are some dramatic moments here though, before the work closes with a unison pizzicato, played forte-fortissimo. The stylistic parameters of this quartet reflect Wellesz’s early modernist voice, shaped by post-Romantic lyricism and Schoenbergian influence. It is the most approachable of the three Quartets here.

The String Quartet No.5, op.60 was begun in the summer of 1943 and completed on 9 January the following year. It marked Wellesz’s return to composition after a prolonged hiatus following his exile to Oxford. The Quartet is steeped in a mood of regret and nostalgia. Wellesz himself acknowledged this tone when he described writing the piece “in a dark time” and intended as “a farewell to my former life and the friends of my youth and manhood”. This sense of leave-taking is most poignantly expressed in the finale, a slow elegy bearing the subtitle In Memoriam. Despite its austere idiom, the quartet contains many passages of striking beauty. Although Wellesz draws on Schoenbergian theory, he does so with considerable freedom, adapting serial procedures to suit his own personal needs. The music often hints at tonal centres, yet these are frequently unsettled by dissonant inflections.

Formally, the quartet is in three movements. The first opens with a Maestoso that leads into an Allegro energico, structured loosely around conventional sonata principles. There follows a scherzo marked Allegretto comodo, whose tense character provides significant contrast and momentum. The final movement, In Memoriam, is the emotional heart of the work. Its breadth and duration equal the combined length of the preceding two movements. It serves not only as a personal farewell to past times, but also as a broader tribute. As Caroline Cepin Benser has observed in her monograph, Wellesz intended it as a memorial to the circle of composers associated with Schoenberg, whose creative lives had been disrupted by political forces. The title gained further significance after the accidental death of Anton Webern in September 1945.

Between 1945 and 1956, Wellesz composed five symphonies, his only English opera Incognita, and a number of notable chamber works, including the String Quartet No.7, op.66.

The listener will be conscious that the latter has a more “tonal” effect than No.5. Wellesz wrote it rapidly between 3 March and 2 April 1948. The liner notes say that formally it is rooted in classical tradition. It is presented in two movements. Once again, they are unbalanced in duration; the concluding Adagio and Fugue is three times as long as the opening Allegro moderato.

The Quartet begins with a smiling theme which is balanced by a haunting second subject. The second movement is intense and occasionally quite scary. The exposition of the fugue, begun by the solo cello, is laconic. Yet it does end positively with a joyful Allegro energico which banishes any angst. Overall, this striking work establishes Wellesz’s evolving mastery of form and expression in the post-war years. There is palpable emotional breadth, from lyrical charm to brooding introspection and eventual exuberance.

Established in Vienna in 1998, the Aron Quartett has garnered acclaim for its performances of 20th-century repertoire. It has a particular affinity for the Second Viennese School, while it also embraces classical traditions. The ensemble has toured internationally and released several recordings, notably featuring Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s string quartets and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s piano quintets.

I have already mentioned the comprehensive liner notes, in German and English. (I do wish the font were a wee bit larger: there is no obvious source for sleeve note downloads of cpo CDs.) The booklet includes a couple of characteristic photos of the composer. The cover is taken from Austrian artist Egon Schiele’s Felderlandschaft (field landscape) from 1910.

This new release marks, one hopes, the beginning of a complete cycle of Egon Wellesz’s ten string quartets (nine in the catalogue, but it may include 4 Stücke, op.103 from 1968). That would trace his aesthetic journey from early modernist lyricism to post-war tonal refinement. The Aron Quartett deliver nuanced, idiomatic performances that illuminate Wellesz’s evolving voice. An earlier recording of Quartets No.3, 4 and 6 by the Artis Quartett on Nimbus (review ~ review) offered valuable insight, but this new cycle promises a broader, more unified portrait of Wellesz’s compositional legacy.

John France

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