Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst Quartets

Ever since hearing the Music Group of London performing Ralph Vaughan William’s String Quartets on EMI HQS 1292, I have been hooked. Since that time, around 1973, there have been several accomplished recordings of these two works by prestigious ensembles such as the Medici, the Maggini, the Nash and the English.

The String Quartet in G minor (No.1) was written shortly after RVW had returned from lessons with Maurice Ravel in Paris. It was first heard in public at the Aeolian Hall on 15 November 1909. The work was subsequently withdrawn and revised in 1921. It is not known what revisions the composer made to the original, although the liner notes suggest that they were “unlikely to have been extensive.”

What the inspiration for this Quartet was, is not known. It could have been the impetus given to chamber music by Walter Willson Cobbett and his national Phantasy competitions. Or perhaps it was suggested by Ravel’s Quartet in F major, finished in 1903. That said, the composer himself suggested that it sounds more like he had been “having tea with Debussy.” What is clear is that RVW has developed a “greater clarity” which Ravel always demanded of his pupils. Any influence from the Frenchmen has been assimilated into the Englishman’s characteristic musical language.

This Quartet has classical poise, refined interrelationships between the movements, and often seems to be infused with folksong. The final Rondo capriccioso has “dancing measures” and a “fugal jig” that would have impressed Haydn.

The booklet is correct in suggesting that “nothing quite like this had appeared in English chamber music up to that time” - the beautiful Quartets by Stanford notwithstanding.

Gustav Holst’s Phantasy on British Folksongs was composed during 1916 and first heard publicly the following year. It was later withdrawn. The liner notes explain that Holst considered that it was “insufficient” and his “guilty secret.” The mystery was that he had tried (and in his opinion failed) in writing a string quartet. After his death, Imogen Holst edited a version for string orchestra which was published as Fantasia on Hampshire Folksongs. The present recording is based on an edition by Roderick Swanston. The booklet does not tell what folksongs are used here. However, in Imogen Holst’s Thematic Catalogue of Gustav Holst’s Music (Faber, 1974) she states that the four Hampshire tunes were Eggs in her basket, The female farmer, The outlandish Knight and Claudy Banks.

The entire work nods towards the English Pastoral School, yet it is not all cow and gate. There are some acerbic moments that look towards Bartók. Dancing music and drones give an edge. Yet, the general mood is of reflection, some occasional playfulness and a certain cosmopolitan finesse.

The String Quartet in A minor (No.2) was written between 1942 and 1944. The premiere performance was given on 12 October 1944 at one of the legendary National Gallery Lunchtime Concerts under the auspices of Dame Myra Hess. It was on RVW’s 72nd birthday. The work was dedicated to Jean Stewart “on her birthday.” Stewart was at that time the violist with the Menges Quartet, who gave its premiere. The corollary of this is that her instrument is prominent, “generally leading the discussion virtually throughout.”

The Quartet was roughly contemporaneous with the glorious Symphony No. 5 but marks a sea-change in style. It preserves some of the serenity and resignation of that work, but also looks forward to the turbulent, unsettled mood found in the Symphony No.6.

This neglected masterpiece of chamber music explores a wide-range of emotion – from the curiously macabre Scherzo to the beatific Epilogue. The Romance is a curious, but beautifully wrought concatenation of the world of the Tallis Fantasia and the troubling final movement of the Symphony No.6.

For me, this present performance successfully deals with what has been regarded as this Quartet’s bugbear – balancing the viola with the other members of the ensemble.

The liner notes by Robert Matthew-Walker are eloquent, informative and make essential reading. Not only do they provide detailed technical notes on each work they also contextualise the music within the life and times of both composers. There is a short resumé of the Tippett Quartet. I loved the cover picture on this CD. It is a detail from a watercolour, Revisiting Baxton’s by Yorkshire artist Simon Palmer (Website). It is almost Paul Nash-like in texture and gives a suitable visual imperative to the music.

This is an outstanding 150^th birthday gift to Ralph Vaughan Williams, which presents intensely beautiful, erudite and satisfying accounts of the two String Quartets. Over and above, this album majors on the strong and enduring friendship between RVW and Gustav Holst with the latter’s Phantasy Quartet. Overall, it is a most fitting and moving tribute. 

Track Listing:
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
String Quartet No.2 in A minor (1942-43)
Gustav Holst (1874-1934)
Phantasy on British Folksongs, op.36 (ed. Roderick Swanston) (1916)
Ralph Vaughan Williams
String Quartet No.1 in G minor (1909, rev.1922)
Tippett Quartet: John Mills (violin), Jeremy Isaac (violin), Lydia Lowndes-Northcott (viola), Bozidar Vukotic (cello)
rec.7-8 February 2022, St Nicolas’ Parish Church, Thames Ditton, Surrey.
SOMM RECORDINGS SOMMCD 0656

With thanks to MusicWeb International where this review was first published.