Malion Quartett
Departure
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
String Quartet No 7 in F major, Op 59, No 1 “Razumovsky” (publ. 1808)
Imogen Holst (1907-1984)
Phantasy for string quartet (1928)
Karol Szymanowsky (1882-1937)
String Quartet No 1 in C major, Op 37 (1917)
Malion Quartett (members listed after review)
rec. 2024, Reitstadel, Neumarkt i.d. Oberpfalz, Germany
Solaire SOL1016 [66]
The Malion Quartett was a new name to me, but they are already a force to be reckoned with and clearly on the rise. They have won numerous prizes at national and international competitions such as the Deutscher Musikwettbewerb 2022, as well as the International String Quartet Competition of the Irene Steels-Wilsing-Foundation 2023 and the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition 2023.
As can be expected from the Solaire Records label, this is an outstanding recording with bags of detail and presence. I usually listen with headphones and the balance here is more on the analytical side than the atmospheric, but the stereo spread is superb and there is plenty of air around each instrument. You can bring this disc to your Hi-Fi shop to test loudspeakers and expect to receive admiring glances and questions about which CD that is.
The Malion Quartett’s Beethoven is dynamic and full of colourful variety. They can be intense without rushing tempi, and the general impression is natural and organic in terms of the narrative flow inherent in this work. Beethoven for instance works his moments of counterpoint in the first movement, and the players reflect his passions and dig in where each drama occurs, both in an intellectual and theatrical sense. Poetic lyricism is also abundant, and I admire the intensity in the accompaniment figures even when Beethoven is, however briefly, ‘chugging’. The scherzando second movement is suitably lively and again dramatic, with dynamic contrasts extreme without becoming forced. There is wit and lightness behind the accents, and urbane romance behind the moments of tenderness and lyrical climax. That heartbreaking Adagio molto e mesto third movement is taken with amorous warmth rather than skeletal aridity, but the playing is by no means heart-on-sleeve or sentimental. This is a vast landscape of emotion with elusive horizons, but one in which you can close your eyes and revel in its space without chills or excessive peril. All of these movements are nicely in proportion with each other in this recording, and the final ride to the conclusion is suitably exhilarating, with virtuosity adding to the fun while always retaining musicality and control of our ‘troika’.
When it comes to Beethoven string quartets I’ve more often than not come across them in complete sets, and of those I have to hand it is the Belcea Quartet (review) I’ve turned to more than most. Without going into a detailed comparison, the Malion Quartett’s recording is very much up to the same standard. The Belcea Quartet is a bit more urgent in the first movement and a touch more expansive and lonelier in that magical Adagio, but I’d be perfectly happy with the Malion Quartett on my desert island.
Imogen Holst’s Phantasy might be considered 10 minutes-worth of rural light relief between the two main works in this programme. But even with its English lyrical atmosphere, this has quite enough emotional heft in its harmonic language and at times impactful string writing to stand its own anywhere. Imogen Holst’s chamber music has only relatively recently become available on CD and it’s good to see it included here in such a fine performance and, as Rob Barnett states in his review of the Court Lane Music premiere recording from 2007, it will “will gladden the heart of lovers of early Howells chamber music.”
Szymanowski’s String Quartet No 1 takes us beyond more restful lyricism and flings us into the churning emotions he took from his travels in times of war and societal instability. The notes for this release remind us that, “when the Bolsheviks marched into Tymoshivka in 1917, Szymanowski fled to Warsaw with three completed movements of the first string quartet in his luggage”, as yet another Ukranian refugee. There are touches of Wagnerian harmonic stress in this quartet, alongside a certain amount of Brahmsian repose in the central Andantino semplice. Szymanowski’s restless imagination rarely sits in one place for more than a few bars before melting one musical image into another. The final Vivace would have taken the place of a scherzo in the original four-movement plan for this work. With its striking technical brilliance in which “exuberance transforms into the grotesque”, and even with its enigmatic vanishing into space at the end, this is as good a conclusion for such as work as one could imagine.
As with all of these pieces, the Malion Quartett’s performance can stand comparison with any of the competition. With regard to the Szymanowski they are arguably more intense than the also excellent Joachim Quartet on the Calliope label (review), bringing in more compact timings for the first two movements. The Royal Quartet on Hyperion (review) with its refinement and impeccable sense of narrative clarity is also hard to beat, but again, you won’t be disappointed with the Malion Quartett, especially in such stunning sound quality.
Dominy Clements
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Malion Quartett:
Alex Jussow, Miki Nagahara (violin)
Lilya Tymchyshyn (viola), Bettina Kessler (cello)
