Frank Bridge; Gustav Holst; Joseph Holbrooke - String Sextets (Cologne String Sextet)

Information

Composer: Frank Bridge; Gustav Holst; Joseph Holbrooke

• Bridge - String Sextet in E flat major, H. 107
• Holst - Scherzo for String Sextet, H. 23
• Holbrooke - String Sextet in D major, Op. 43

Cologne String Sextet

    Demetrius Polyzoides, violin

    Elisabeth Polyzoides-Baich, violin

    Bernhard Oll, viola

    Rémy Sornin-Petit, viola

    Uta Schlichtig, cello

    Birgit Heinemann, cello

Date: 2019

Label: CAvi-music

https://avi-music.de/html/2019/3079.html

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Review

This is a gratifyingly exploratory programme from the Cologne String Sextet and it’s surely not their fault that all the pieces are claimed as world premiere recordings when, so far as I can see, only the Holst Scherzo falls under that heading. Avi-Music needs to scan its catalogues and databases.

Frank Bridge’s String Sextet gestated between 1906 and 1912 and it’s played with a slightly abrasive tone here and the recording exacerbates a certain amount of shrillness from the violins. This isn’t necessarily destabilizing but it’s accompanied by a horizontality of phrasing with the result that the writing emerges as slightly tentative and even in places lumpy. If you favour this approach you will admire the bracing way they take the slow movement – it’s decidedly robust – and their splendidly taken transition to the allegro giusto. Here Holst’s folkloric writing, which takes the place of a conventional Scherzo, is energetically projected. So, some fine if inconsistent playing and some less than convincing interpretation. For a fuller picture turn to the Academy of St Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble on Chandos CHAN9472. Their recording is warmer though more distant, but you’ll find greater instrumental finesse, subtler phrasing and a more comprehensive appreciation of the genre.

Holbrooke’s Sextet was written in 1902 and subtitled Henry Vaughan. The Cologne ensemble really dig into this work, making a considerable contrast to the approach taken by the New Haydn Quartet and their string confreres on Marco Polo 8.223736. The New Haydn team vibrate far more intensely and expressively and phrase with a far greater sense of the music’s introspection. Indeed, when they need to be, they can be positively wrenching. The Cologne players are certainly not unfeeling but are far more reserved and less inclined to dig too deep. Arguably this approach suits the transition from the opening slow introduction to the ensuing Allegro – but I’ll be sticking with the more graphic realization of the New Haydn. This applies to the ripeness of the slow movement with its strong sense of tension and very much so in the finale. The New Haydn are the bigger personalities and they do well by the rumbustious, cocky themes Holbrooke lines up. For a more linear, less witty approach, go for the Cologne.

The Holst Scherzo, H23 was composed in 1897. Written during his studies at the Royal College of Music it seems to have been intended for a larger-scaled work, but this is all that now survives. Somewhat modal and with dance themes it’s youthful and charming. At nine minutes it somewhat strains for its material but Holstians will want to hear it, though probably not that often. I’m not sure there has been a prior recording of this, but could be wrong.

With an occasionally sinewy WDR broadcast recording and decent notes this might tempt those curious about the repertoire though as I’ve made clear, my own allegiances lie elsewhere.

-- Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International

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Frank Bridge (26 February 1879 – 10 January 1941) was an English composer, violist and conductor. He studied at the Royal College of Music under Charles Villiers Stanford and played in a number of string quartets, before devoting himself to composition. Being a strong pacifist, Bridge was deeply disturbed by the First World War, and his works during the war and immediately afterwards appeared to search for spiritual consolation. As a teacher, Bridge privately taught Benjamin Britten, who later championed his teacher's music and paid homage to him in the Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge (1937).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Bridge

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Gustav Holst (21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934) was an English composer and teacher. He studied at the Royal College of Music under Charles Villiers Stanford. Holst served as musical director at Morley College from 1907 to 1924, and pioneered music education for women at St Paul's Girls' School from 1905 until his death in 1934. He was an important influence on younger English composers, including Edmund Rubbra, Michael Tippett and Benjamin Britten. Apart from The Planets and a handful of other works, his music was generally neglected until the 1980s, when recordings of much of his output became available.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Holst

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Joseph Holbrooke (5 July 1878 – 5 August 1958) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He studied under Frederick Corder and Frederick Westlake at the Royal Academy of Music. Holbrooke was a late-Romantic composer, writing in a predominantly tonal and richly chromatic idiom. His style was essentially eclectic: whilst the early chamber works echo the language and methods of Brahms and Dvořák, there is also an exuberance informed by his affection for the music of Tchaikovsky. Only a small fraction of Holbrooke's large output has been recorded by CPO, Dutton, Naxos and Cameo Classics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Holbrooke

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The Cologne String Sextet was founded in 1997 by Demetrius Polyzoides and Uwe Ender with the goal of performing chamber music for string sextet with a fixed personnel. The members of the group hail from different countries and have extensive experience with chamber music and as soloists. Aside from the continual attention to the classical and romantic sextet literature, the group has dedicated itself to the distinct, transparent realization and to an artistic involvement with the musical avant-garde. The sextet has played on numerous radio productions, has produced CDs, and has played concerts in Germany and internationally.

https://www.koelner-streichsextett.de/

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