Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
String Quartets, Op. 33. ‘Russian’ (1781):
No. 4 in Bb Major Hob III:40
No. 5 in G Major Hob III:41
No. 6 in D Major Hob III:42
Chiaroscuro Quartet
rec. 2024, Menuhin Hall, Stoke d’Abernon, UK
BIS BIS2608 SACD [57]

‘Not only does it evince textural shortcomings, but its melodic invention is often surprisingly unoriginal, at times downright conventional. Equally surprising is what is, at best, its routine harmonic mastery…[B]y playing the Bb quartet…many a famous quartet…proves its utter ignorance and incomprehension of what matters in a great quartet and what doesn’t’.

This is Hans Keller on Haydn’s Op. 33 No. 4 from his Harold Bloom-like assembly of the canon of the ‘Great Haydn Quartets’ in his book of that name. As Keller reminds us in the Preface, Benjamin Britten wrote that ‘Hans Keller knows more about the string quartet, and understands it better, than anybody alive’. But could he possibly have been wrong in this instance, both about the work and the understanding of those who play it? Keller was by all accounts a difficult man to persuade, certainly not biddable, but perhaps if any performance could make him feel differently about that composition it might be this one, from a new disc of the last three Op. 33 quartets made by the Chiaroscuro Quartet.

What to say about this group of players? Every time I hear them play I feel they are once in a generation talents. I want to try and break that down a bit. First, they have the gift that only the very best quartets do of making you feel you are not hearing a ‘performance’ but rather eavesdropping in the most privileged way on music which is addressed primarily to the players. Second, they are musically and philosophically conversational in their approach, they understand when music should be balanced, when blended, when both, and to what degree. Third, they are historically informed. Obviously they have made a decision about performance practice and use gut strings and original bows. This is almost by-the-by though – one could argue that these ought to be the default choice in classical repertoire in 2025 – and isn’t it hugely irritating when critics and interviewers wheel this fact out, as they do, time after time, and talk about it as if it’s defining of the ensemble? What is more important historically about the Chiaroscuro I feel is their awareness of who has gone before them in the repertoire they’ve chosen to play and what they have taken from the tradition of quartet playing over the last hundred years, intellectually as well as musically. I’ve listened to the Lindsay, Pro Arte and Casals Quartets, in some of these same pieces recently and the comparisons between them and the Chiaroscuro are fascinating, similarities as well as differences. Fourth, staying with their repertoire, especially since they began recording for BIS, it’s salutary I think to see Haydn at the core of what they do. Haydn, ‘the first and last quartet composer’ (Keller again), not a lesser composer who made the Beethoven quartets possible but a genius of the quartet form, who over a prodigious number of compositions in the genre never did the same thing twice. It’s so refreshing to see a modern quartet alive to this and play the music for its merits. For all its virtues, another historically informed approach, the London Haydn Quartet project, feels as if it’s primarily another Hyperion blockbuster (which of course it is) rather than a chosen path of exploration and there’s often a lack of heterogeneity in their approach which sometimes becomes palling. Finally, and related to my first point, the Chiaroscuro don’t seem to need the catalyst of live performance to combust. All of their BIS recordings are marked by the tangible frisson that comes from successful in the moment music making, and the attendant vivacity, lyricism and wit.

This disc has all the explicit and implied virtues I’ve tried to enumerate above. Haydn said of the Op. 33 set as a whole that they were written ‘in a new and special way’, after a ten year break from composition in the form. As in their set of the first three Op. 33 quartets (BIS 2588), the Chiaroscuro give us a clear idea of what some of that novelty might be: in general Haydn’s lightness of touch compared with the Op. 20 set is rendered with delightful spontaneity and his organic development of themes and ideas and avoidance of rhetoric is well suited to the colloquial, almost chatty approach the players take.

If that description leads you to think though that these works or indeed performances are somehow lightweight, think again. Listen to how the Chiaroscuro in Op. 33 No. 5 effect Haydn’s symphonic ambition in the first movement, with orchestral textures brilliantly realised by the players and the introduction of the decidedly graceful lyric theme in the development section feels both unexpected and utterly appropriate in this performance. The lovely Largo e cantabile, Gluck-infused second movement features wonderfully operatic playing from first violin Alina Ibragimova and the contrast with the humour drawn by the players from the Scherzo which follows is genuinely congenial. The final movement theme and variations is a treat: graceful, fluid and sprightly.

Op. 33 No. 6 is given a sparkling start. The players lean into the 6/8 rhythms of the opening movement with poise and the ‘hunting’ image – which seemingly inspired Mozart’s K458 – is unveiled as we listen. I loved the relish with which the players pair off and the delicious interplay that results. The Andante slow movement again evokes baroque opera but here the initial focus is on the second violin of Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux and the viola of Emilie Hörnlund, who play together with such expression and understanding. Ibragimova soars above them with a sustained single note and this simplest of touches from Haydn is enthralling when realised like this. There is a contrast again with another anarchic Scherzo, which really lives up to its name with Hörnlund’s viola left stranded on a single conspicuous note after all the other players have finished their manoeuvrings. The final movement is a so called ‘double variation’ form based on two themes, major and minor, which again offerfull scope for the apparently casual interplay between the quartet members in the variations which follow, which is both understated and completely delightful. The attention to detail is also striking. The D minor theme opens with an upwards leap of a sixth on the cello which needs to sound both effortless and expressive. It’s just two notes, but they can make or break our reception of the melody that follows and Claire Thirion here nails it to perfection.

So what of the Keller-dismissed Op. 33 No. 4? Well, it’s almost as if someone hadn’t told the players this was a lesser work and that they risked ridicule by playing it! All of the wittiness the Chiaroscuro can channel into their playing is triumphantly on display in both the opening Allegro moderato and the absolutely mesmerising Presto finale, where the players show you don’t have to lose your sense of humour when travelling at breakneck speed, including in the pizzicato closing bars. But it’s the third movement Largo which is the central gem. Ibragimova’s playing of Haydn’s innovative solo cantilena is superb and the support from her colleagues outstanding. Again, no detail has been overlooked. Listen to the absolutely deft way each of the instruments in turn joins with Ibragimova’s motivic three note patterns (a dotted quaver followed by two demisemiquavers), a third apart, and I think you will hear what I mean. Collegial playing of the first order.

I hope you have read enough to make this disc the one you listen to next. I promise you won’t regret a bar of it. BIS with both the Chiaroscuro and Jerusalem quartets now part of their stable have effectively created a dream team which can cover all the bases of the quartet repertoire brilliantly in demonstration quality recorded sound. This set comes with some solid booklet notes from Richard Wigmore, which on examination bear a close similarity to those he provided for the London Haydn Quartet Op. 33 recordings for Hyperion in 2013 (CDA67955). Fair enough I suppose, assuming not much has happened in the scholarship around the Op. 33 quartets in the intervening twelve years.

Dominic Hartley

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