Benjamin Britten - String Quartet in F; Simple Symphony (Emperor Quartet)

Information

Composer: Benjamin Britten

• Simple Symphony, Op. 4
• Rhapsody
• Quartettino
• Phantasy in F minor, for string quintet
• String Quartet in F

Emperor Quartet

    Martin Burgess, violin

    Clare Hayes, violin

    Fiona Bonds, viola

    William Schofield, cello

&

John Metcalfe, viola

Date: 2014

Label: BIS

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Review

This release follows on from two earlier Britten discs by the Emperor Quartet on BIS (A/10, 12/13), which together comprise the composer’s complete works for string quartet. With the three mature quartets having already appeared, the final volume turns to youthful works, all composed between 1928 and 1934, though it is no less interesting for that. An obvious attraction is the popular Simple Symphony, making a rare appearance performed by solo strings (though the Britten and Maggini Quartets have recorded it in the past). With the Emperor Quartet’s quick reactions, the piece takes on a new guise in this intimate form, at once spikily alive in the outer movements and confiding of private secrets at the heart of the ‘Sentimental Saraband’.

Each of the other items is worth investigating. The heartfelt Rhapsody, written by the 15-year-old Britten in his school sanatorium, is remarkably skilful in its Ravel-tinted language, much more than a youthful curiosity. The Quartettino comprises three succinct genre pieces, very much in the early Britten idiom. The Phantasy in F minor for string quintet, not related to the one with oboe, is fluent beyond the composer’s years, embracing varied moods and colours (John Metcalfe as second viola). Although the String Quartet in F is more jejune, its youthful exuberance keeps it bubbling along. All these other works have been recorded by the Endellion Quartet, originally for EMI, also included on disc 58 of Decca’s ‘Britten: The Complete Works’. Sometimes the Emperor Quartet’s warmth of expression seems preferable, sometimes the Endellion’s liveliness. Either way, these youthful pieces repay one’s attention.

— Richard Fairman

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Benjamin Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was a leading British composer, pianist and conductor. Trained at the Royal College of Music, he gained early acclaim with Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge and achieved international prominence with the opera Peter Grimes (1945). His major stage works include Billy Budd, The Turn of the Screw, and Death in Venice, alongside innovative church parables such as Curlew River. Co-founder of the Aldeburgh Festival, he also composed celebrated song cycles, choral works including the War Requiem, and notable orchestral and chamber music.

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The Emperor Quartet, formed in London in 1992, is a British string ensemble. After debuting at the Edinburgh International Festival in 1994, the group gained recognition through major awards, including the Menuhin Prize and the Evian String Quartet Competition. It quickly established an international touring presence. The quartet began recording in 2001 and has since maintained a strong association with the BIS label. Notably, it collaborated with Jonny Greenwood on several film soundtracks. Its repertoire emphasizes 20th- and 21st-century works, including a complete set of Benjamin Britten's quartets released in 2022.

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