Cherubini Quartet
The Complete Warner Classics Recordings
rec. 1988-1999
Warner Classics 5419780866 [13 CDs: 835]

The Cherubini Quartet had a near-decade contract with EMI that focused on the established repertoire. It was founded by violinist Christoph Poppen in the late 1970s with second violinist Harald Schoneweg, violist Hariolf Schlichtig and cellist Klaus Kämper and in 1981 won the Évian International String Quartet, making its first disc, a live recording – not for EMI – featuring quartets by Bergmüller and Schumann. Two years later it was signed to the label and thus began a long sequence of recordings made between 1988 and 1997, duly collected here. There were some personnel changes. In 1989 Kämper was replaced by Manuel Fischer-Dieskau, Dietrich’s son, who is also distantly related to Christoph Poppen; they are, in fact, second cousins. In turn Fischer-Dieskau was replaced by Christoph Richter. In the game of quartet merry-go-round, Schoneweg was replaced as second violinist in 1995 by Ulf Wallin, who has since established an important place in collectors’ hearts for his recordings on CPO and BIS. The quartet disbanded in 1997 and the last records in this set, made in 1999, were made by two members of the now-disbanded group – Poppen and Schlichtig – who joined with Emmanuel Pahud and cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras for the Mozart Flute Quartets. CDs 12 and 13 are also, strictly speaking, not by the quartet either but we’ll get to those discs later.   

The Cherubini emerged at something of a golden period for string quartets. Even in its native country there was a strong roster of outstanding groups so competition was tight. It focused on its strengths and began with a resonant and deeply considered version of Haydn’s Seven Last Words which combined solemnity of utterance with tonal warmth. If it lacked the Prazak’s power and the Lindsay Quartet’s intensity here it lacked for little in focus. The world was not lacking in Schubert quartet recordings and it’s a sign of the jostling in the European recording industry that so many quartets were vying for commercial presence. The Melos on DG were always in the frame but the (New) Leipzig, the Berg, and many others – the Talich, of course, and the Allegri, who had begun its own Schubert discs somewhat earlier than the Cherubini – also provided stiff opposition. The Cherubini are less emollient than the Allegri, to take one example, in the G minor quartet, D.173 and they point up the crabbiness in the Rosamunde, in A minor, D.804. They bleach their tones effectively in the opening theme of ‘Death and the Maiden’ but take flexible, somewhat expansive tempi. Corporately their tone is seldom, if ever, as sweetly seductive as that of the New Leipzig on MDG but they are arguably just as architecturally convincing as the Melos, whose name is much more illustrious. There is a top-flight quartet of guests in the Schubert Octet, and they have been finely balanced, though occasionally the results are a little reserved.

Mendelssohn was one of the groups central strengths and between 1989-90 they recorded the cycle of quartets. The playing is full of energy and finely characterised, privileging Mendelssohn’s youthful genius. They take all the repeats in Op.13. Sometimes – according to taste – this can vest the music with a sense that the lyricism is over-done. Certainly, other ensembles, such as the Ysaÿe Quartet, are notably more tough and terse in individual quartets, but the Melos does sound hard-bitten after the Cherubini. Those who welcome generous-minded, lyric performances that are warmly resonant will enjoy the Cherubini.

They’re joined in the Mozart Clarinet Quintet by Michel Portal, who was also something of a jazzer, and had previously recorded the Quintet for Harmonia Mundi with members of the Pasquier trio. The ethos of the Quintet is relaxed, leisurely. Poppen and Schlichtig, as noted earlier, join Queyras and Pahud for the Mozart Flute Quartets, fine performances all that won plaudits when reviewed here.

If Mendelssohn was one of their great discographic strengths, the other was Schumann, and we are fortunate that they were allowed to record the three quartets. The two discs here are ex-Double Forte and the performances conform to the group’s established strengths; warmly phrased, finely balanced, good inner voice attention to detail, and perhaps stinting some of the more combative elements of the music. That said, it is a consistent approach and will be appreciated by admirers. For the Piano Quintet they’re joined by Christian Zacharias for a clarity-conscious and splendidly balanced reading. The Dvořák Serenade features luminaries such as Sabine Meyer and her ensemble.

CD 12 is the all-Messiaen disc recorded in 1990 with Yvonne Loriod and Wolfgang Meyer, which has seen good service on its previous reissues. For example, you can find it in a twofer coupled with Previn’s LSO Turangalīla-Symphonie (review) and you’ll also find it in the fourth CD of the 14-CD ‘100th Anniversary Edition’ (review). The Quatuor pour la fin du Temps is a splendid realisation, sufficiently pungent and intense and the Thème et Variations teams Poppen with Loriod showing the former’s strengths as a sensitive, supple tonalist.

CD 13 features the Cherubini supporting Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in Othmar Schoeck’s Notturno and Siegfried Matthus’ Nachtlieder, with harpist Maria Graf. Manuel Fischer-Dieskau was then cellist of the ensemble. The Schoeck was recorded in 1995 but it was a work that F-D had recorded back in 1968 with the Juilliard Quartet, which is probably both better-remembered than this Cherubini traversal and better sung. Nevertheless, the withdrawn romanticism – which inter alia had me thinking of Warlock’s The Curlew in places – was a fine fit for Fischer-Dieskau, who always remained one of Schoeck’s most loyal interpreters. The Matthus is another very gloomy setting but receives a notably well-balanced recording and a fine performance. The final two items are two French songs with Barabra Hendricks and Michel Dalberto, included because the obbligato cello is played by Christoph Richter.   

There was no Beethoven in the Cherubini’s EMI discography, just the solitary Haydn, supportive Mozart – but no string quartets. It focused on the Mendelssohn-Schumann axis adding a slew of Schubert quartets and selectively recording other elements of the repertoire, often with invited guests. That was a refection of the strength of contemporary central-European string quartets in the major discography. In Britain, the Peter Carter-led Allegri, recording for Argo, managed to record even more Schubert slightly earlier than the Cherubini, adding Brahms – which the Cherubini could have recorded, as their lighter corporate sound should have been effective – which preserved a more comprehensive look at the repertoire. Like the Cherubini, though, there was not much opportunity for the Allegri to set down their Beethoven though at least they recorded Opp. 74 and 95. I wish the Cherubini had been offered some Beethoven by German EMI.   

It’s no good, though, regretting what was not recorded. This is a handily presented set with succinct but good notes from Christoph Vratz. They’re heard in the same transfers as previously, so far as I can tell; there’s no indication of any subsequent remastering. The set is very attractively priced as well.

Jonathan Woolf        

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Contents
CD 1
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
String Quartet, Op. 51 ‘Seven Last Words’, Hob.III:50-56
CD 2
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
String Quartet No. 9 in G minor, D173
String Quartet No. 13 in A minor, D804 ‘Rosamunde’
CD 3
String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, D810 ‘Death and the Maiden’
String Quartet No. 12 in C minor (fragment), D703 ‘Quartettsatz’
CD 4
String Quartet No. 15 in G Major, D887
CD 5
Octet in F major, D803
Wolfgang Meyer (clarinet), Radovan Vlatković (horn),Dag Jensen (bassoon),Yasunori Kawahara (double-bass)
CD 6
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
String Quartet No.1 in E flat major, Op.12
String Quartet No.2 in A minor, Op.13
String Quartet No.6 in F minor, Op.80
CD 7
String Quartet No.3 in D major, Op.44 No.1
String Quartet No.4 in E minor, Op.44 No.2
CD 8
String Quartet No.5 in E flat major, Op.44 No.3
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Clarinet Quintet in A major, K581
Michel Portal (clarinet)
CD 9
Flute Quartet No.1 in D major, K285
Flute Quartet No.2 in G major, K285a
Flute Quartet No.3 in C major, K285b
Flute Quartet No.4 in A major, K298
Emmanuel Pahud (flute), Christoph Poppen (violin), Hariolf Schlichtig (viola), Jean-Guihen Queyras (cello)
CD 10
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Piano Quintet in E flat major, Op. 44
Christian Zacharias (piano)
String Quartet No.1 in A minor, Op.41 No.1
CD 11
String Quartet No.2 in F major, Op.41 No.2
String Quartet No.3 in A major, Op.41 No.3
Antonin Dvořák (1841-1904)
Serenade for Winds in D minor, Op. 44
Bläserensemble Sabine Meyer: Sabine Meyer and Reiner Wehle (clarinet), Albrecht Meyer and Diethelm Jonas (oboe), Sergio Azzolini and Georg Klütsch (bassoon), Klaus Lohrer (double bassoon), Bruno Schneider, Charly Fessler and Nikolaus Frisch (horn), Manuel Fischer-Dieskau (cello), Christoph Schmidt (double bass)
CD 12
Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992)
Quatuor pour la fin du Temps
Thème et Variations for Violin and Piano
Yvonne Loriod (piano), Christoph Poppen (violin), Manuel Fischer-Dieskau (cello), Wolfgang Meyer (clarinet)
CD 13
Othmar Schoeck (1886-1957)
Notturno – Fünf Sätze für Streichquartett und eine Singt imme, Op. 47
Siegfried Matthus (1934-2021)
Nachtlieder
Ernest Chausson (1855-1899)
Chanson perpétuelle, Op. 37
Jules Massenet (1842-1912)
Tristesse du soir
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone: Schoeck, Matthus), Maria Graf (harp: Matthus), Barbara Hendricks (soprano: Chausson, Massenet), Michel Dalberto (piano: Chausson, Massenet)