Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
The Seven Last Words of Christ – version for string quartet (1785)
Quartetto della Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano
Aldo Cazzullo (recitant)
rec. 2024, BartokStudio, Benareggio, Monza e Brianza, Italy
Brilliant Classics 97745 [61]

Having produced a survey of recordings of this great chamber work, I am always interested by new releases. I refer you to that survey for background information. This latest recording of the version for string quartet correctly places The Seven Last Words firmly in the context of a devotional rather than a concert pieces, by prefacing each of the eight movements following the Introduction with the brief, biblical Latin texts that inspired the music, rather nasally intoned by the narrator. The excellent quartet here is rather laboriously named in recognition of the august institution which since its founding in 1387 has been for responsible for the construction, preservation, and maintenance of Milan Cathedral. For practical purposes, I imagine “Quartetto del Duomo” would be more apt…

This is a fierce, almost abrasive account on the swift side, in a resonant acoustic suggestive of a church even though it was studio-made. Its rawness is aptly suggestive of a pain and suffering accentuated by the sharp clarity of the recording acoustic; however, it also constantly picks up the sniffing intake of the performers’ breathing prior bowing phrases all to prominently. I know they must breathe but it is distracting and suggests that microphone placement was too close or that the musicians need to rein in their exuberance – or both. Concessions are made to period style by the adoption of minimal vibrato, a certain persistent tonal edginess and a refusal to linger or indulge in Romantic emotivity but I find the insistent pressing forward somewhat relentless and unvaried, masking the beauties of the harmonies. Intonation and cohesion are very good. My understanding of the movement indications – all slow: Adagio, Grave and Largo, with the obvious exception of the finale – embraces a more leisurely concept than that maintained, but this is a question of interpretative taste and I much enjoy, for example, the Talich quartet who are similarly driven but rather sweeter of tone. The pizzicato passages in the Adagio (track 6), however, are especially neatly done and despite my reservations regarding tempi I am certainly engaged by the energy of their playing. The concluding earthquake movement is very emphatically delivered, as one might expect and I prefer a more fluid, less deliberate manner of phrasing such as I hear from the Pražák – who are also more varied in terms of tone and tempi.

In the end, for reasons I have tried to adumbrate above, this does not take its place among my many favourite recordings but is certainly interpretatively consistent and cohesive.

Ralph Moore

Note: an incorrect catalogue number of 97056 appears on the back page of the booklet and the disc itself but is correct on the spine and insert as 97745. In response to my enquiry, Brilliant’s Sales & Logistics Manager informed me that during the production process they discovered that the original EAN barcode number was one of some in use for very old items that did not belong to Brilliant but were still sold in the Benelux, so to avoid confusion they purchased new EANs and to avoid waste of the CDs and booklets did not discard them, but instead just produced new inlays. The error will be corrected in any new production.

Buying this recording via the link below generates revenue for MWI, which helps the site remain free.