Information
Composer: Arnold Bax
- String Quartet No. 3 in F major
- Lyrical Interlude for string quintet
- Adagio ma non troppo 'Cathaleen-ni-Hoolihan' (from String Quartet in E major)
Maggini Quartet
Laurence Jackson, violin
David Angel, violin
Martin Outram, viola
Michal Kaznowski, cello
&
Garfield Jackson, viola
Date: 2002
Label: Naxos
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Bax composed the last of his three mature string quartets between May and September 1936, inscribing it to the Griller Quartet who gave the first performance on the BBC National Programme the following May. An appealing, cogently structured 37-minute work, it is cast (unusually for Bax) in four movements, the joyous first of which ‘was probably influenced by the coming of spring in beautiful Kenmare’ (to quote the composer’s own descriptive notes in The Radio Times). An Irish flavour also permeates the bardic Poco lento, while the third movement’s ‘dreamy, remotely romantic’ trio melody is eventually cleverly welded to the ‘rather sinister and malicious’ scherzo material (try from the fugato passage at 7'26"). The vigorous finale builds up a fine head of steam and incorporates a wistful backward glance just before the close that is entirely characteristic of its creator.
Baxians have had to wait over two decades for a digital successor to the Amici Quartet’s pioneering LP (Gaudeamus, 11/79 – nla), so I’m delighted to report that the Maggini Quartet forge a well-paced and concentrated interpretation, playing with assurance, infectious rhythmic snap and heartwarming dedication. They are joined by violist Garfield Jackson for the haunting Lyrical Interlude from 1922 (a reworking of the slow movement from Bax’s ambitious String Quintet of 1908), and there’s another rarity in the shape of the lovely Adagio ma non troppo centrepiece from the 1903 String Quartet in E major that Bax orchestrated two years later as his first tone-poem, Cathaleen-ni-Hoolihan. (You can hear Martyn Brabbins’ première recording of the latter on Chandos, 6/01.)
Throughout, the sound is faithful in timbre and the balance most musically judged. Next up from the Maggini on Naxos is a Frank Bridge cycle – a mouthwatering prospect! In the meantime, don’t miss this outstanding disc.
-- Andrew Achenbach, Gramophone
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Arnold Bax (8 November 1883 – 3 October 1953) was an English composer, poet, and author. His prolific output includes songs, choral music, chamber pieces, and solo piano works, but he is best known for his orchestral music. In addition to a series of symphonic poems, he wrote seven symphonies and was for a time widely regarded as the leading British symphonist. In his last years he found his music regarded as old-fashioned, and after his death it was generally neglected. From the 1960s onwards his music was gradually rediscovered, although little of it is regularly heard in the concert hall.
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The Maggini Quartet, formed in 1988, is known for championing the British repertoire, and has made many CD recordings published through publishers such as Naxos Records. The Maggini Quartet appear regularly in concert series at home and abroad and are frequent media broadcasters. Among other notable projects, they have recorded the complete Naxos Quartets cycle by Peter Maxwell Davies. The Quartet's name derives from the famous 16th century Brescian violin maker Giovanni Paolo Maggini. Its members are Julian Leaper (Violin 1), Ciaran McCabe (Violin 2), Martin Outram (Viola) and Will Schofield (Cello).
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