Dohnanyi: String Quartets Nos 1 And 3 / Aviv Quartet
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DOHNÁNYI String Quartets: Nos. 1, 3 • Aviv Qrt • NAXOS 8572569 (57:29) I’ve always felt that, in a way, Ern? Dohnányi was sort of...
DOHNÁNYI String Quartets: Nos. 1, 3 • Aviv Qrt • NAXOS 8572569 (57:29)
I’ve always felt that, in a way, Ern? Dohnányi was sort of the common man’s Bartók, a Hungarian composer who used some of the Magyar scales that his younger colleague collected so assiduously on cylinder recordings, but not as astringent or abrasive in his use of them in his music. Of course, to say that is to do some injustice to Bartók, who throughout his career as a composer consciously wrote harmonically and structurally simpler, easier-to-understand pieces like the violin rhapsodies and the Concerto for Orchestra that enhanced his reputation, but the fact remains that most of Bartók’s mature music is thorny and difficult for average listeners to understand while Dohnányi’s is much clearer, particularly in structure.
Such is true of his youthful String Quartet No. 1, but also of his mature Quartet No. 3. Written in 1926, it is very definitely flavored by some of the harmonic influence of Bartók but is much more accessible to the lay listener than any of the latter’s quartets. The key of A Minor pretty much dominates the proceedings, despite a very lovely, insinuating major-key theme in the middle. Yes, some of the music is edgy, the strings scored in close seconds and playing an almost rough rhythmic passage, but Dohnányi keeps bringing the listener back in with his lyric excursions, and even in its edgiest moments he never loses track of an easy-to-follow rhythm. The slow second movement, curiously marked Andante religioso con variazioni, does not seem to be built on any particular religious theme (at least, I find no reference to one in the liner notes), but simply on religious feeling. Despite some very clever and sudden key changes that occur on pivot notes within the chord, the music here is predominantly lyrical and long-lined, even if the theme is a bit elusive and the harmonic changes continually morph and alter it.
I was almost fooled into thinking we had arrived at the third movement when a sudden fast-tempoed theme suddenly popped up at the four-minute mark. After a while, I realized that this scherzo-within-an-andante was itself a variant on the lyrical theme … and what gave it away were those same unusual chord changes! When the slow tempo returns, it is not quite as slow as originally. The third movement, a Vivace giocoso, is a wild ride using even quirkier rhythms and offbeat syncopation.
The First Quartet (1899), according to the liner notes, owes something to Brahms, but I hear it as simply Dohnányi writing in the standard four-movement quartet mold. His own unique approach to melody, and harmony, is already apparent, but I would be the first to admit that his use of themes and his development of them are more conventional here than later. Nevertheless this piece, like the early String Trio, is really delightful. In several moments, particularly the lighthearted final Vivace, there is a closer kinship to Mozart or Mendelssohn than Brahms. Only the unusual chord positions and chord changes, particularly in the middle of the movement when things reach their most unpredictable, immediately place this quartet at the cusp of the 20th century and away from the realm of Mendelssohn.
The Aviv Quartet, a very youthful-looking bunch, approaches this music with an unusually warm, laid-back feeling that is still rhythmically alert and brings out all the subtle humor in the music. Their style emphasizes lyricism above all. The only available competing version of these quartets is a recording by the Kocian Quartet on Praga 250268, a fairly recent CD (2010) that I haven’t heard.
FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley
Product Description:
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Release Date: February 28, 2012
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UPC: 747313256976
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Catalog Number: 8572569
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Label: Naxos
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Number of Discs: 1
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Composer: Ernö von Dohnányi
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Orchestra/Ensemble: Aviv String Quartet
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Performer: Evgenia Epshtein, Nathan Braude, Rachel Mercer, Sergey Ostrovsky