Premiere Performance: The
premiere of Bliss’s Second String Quartet was given at a morning concert by the
dedicatees at the Freemason’s Hall in George Street, Edinburgh, on Friday 1
September 1950. It was during the fourth annual Edinburgh International
Festival. Other pieces heard included Mozart’s String Quartet in D minor,
K.421, and Brahms’s Clarinet Quintet in B minor, op.115. The soloist in the
latter was Frederick Thurston.
The Scotsman
(2 September 1950, p.6), possibly Christopher Grier, reported that Bliss’s new
quartet “was not one that gave up its secrets at a first hearing.” True, Bliss
had harked back to the “romantic” Music for Strings (1935). This was
itself in a trajectory from Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro, op.47
(1905) and to a lesser extent, Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on a Theme by
Thomas Tallis (1910, rev. 1913, 1919). What the reviewer was getting at is
that Bliss had used the formal construct of the Music for Strings but
made it “much more intense with fewer concessions to tunefulness.” It reflected “the severer side of his
composition.” The performance was given
“in the Griller Quartet’s most vigorous, uncompromising style.” Finally, the critic suggests, “if in some
ways the work was a trifle disappointing, there were many interesting
features…but with a work of this nature, the only thing is to hear it again.”
Richard Cappell, writing for The Daily Telegraph and Morning Post (2 September 1950, p.5) gave a succinct commentary on the Quartet. He considered that “it is a work of important scope, abounding in invention and vigour.” Cappell continues by comparing the new piece with Music for Strings and suggests that “it will surely be found a pleasure to play, challenging as its difficulties are, by a first-rate team.” He concludes with the notion that the Quartet is not “sensuously beguiling music [but] it holds the listener by the play of a keen and masterful mind.”
The unsigned review in The Times (2 September 1950, p.8) gave a balanced critique of the Quartet: “It showed ample invention and contained many happy ideas, though their sequence often seemed more skilful than imperative or inevitable.” The two middle movements were of interest “[sounding] a new note in Bliss’s music, the slow movement being particularly striking for a shadowy and fugitive quality, which transformed itself into something more robust, but still half veiled in the scherzo.” The “first movement was terse and athletic...” and the finale was “the most complex and highly organised movement.” It was played “with the Griller’s accustomed care, vitality and rectitude of ensemble.”
Another positive evaluation (The Stage, 7 September 1950, p.12) stated that Arthur Bliss has provided “the Griller Quartet with four movements which never slacken in complexity and yet reveal his knowledge of their musicianly capacity.” It concludes by admitting the Quartet is not “sympathetic to the average listener at first hearing, the grating passages of the early movements are compensated for later, and the new quartet is a “birthday present” reflecting credit on the giver as much as on the recipients.”
Finally, the unnamed critic of the Aberdeenshire Press and Journal (2 September 1950, p.3) brought a light touch into their assessment. For one thing he used the quaint title “Quartette!” A lady sitting next to them, who was conservative in her tastes said that the first movement “was like four musicians tuning up and none of them playing the same tune.” Fortunately, the second movement was more to her taste – “it began and ended in almost inaudible pianissimo and throughout was very lovely.” The reviewer felt that the Scherzo was “the least distinctive of the four [movements] – rather chirpy, as if written to order, the order that a scherzo had to come in there.” Wittily, they concluded by noting that in the finale, “we were again among the modern steam, but again the end was Bliss and beauty.” Overall, they wanted to “hear [it] again and that frequently.”
A Path Through the Quartet: The Second String Quartet is presented in four movements, although it is possible to analyse it as having five. The opening Allegro con spirito, has four principal themes, however, it is the opening energetic subject, played initially in unison, which dominates this section, and is presented in various guises. The other ideas are a quiet chorale, a rhythmically percussive motif and a “gently flowing tune.” It concludes with a gentle coda. The slow movement begins Sostenuto and is characterised by dotted notes. It is remarkably meditative in effect although there are many soft dissonances. This is followed by a Pui mosso section that increases the intensity and is supported by gruff cello pizzicato and bowed chords. The strings are muted throughout, except for a short, dramatic cello solo. The movement ends quietly. There is a brief pause before the vibrant and bubbly Scherzo, Vivo e con brio, explodes with an upward sweep of arpeggios. Several contrasting, but always rhythmical tunes emerge. The irregular phrase length lends a sense of elasticity to this characteristic music. Bliss uses the opening theme of the Scherzo to create a short, chromatic fugato passage, before recapitulating the opening themes. The trio section, with the tune played on the first violin in harmonics allows the pace to ease a fraction. Once again, this movement closes calmly and quite suddenly. The finale opens with an enthusiastic Larghetto cantabile, which includes a plaintive passage for cello, played “quasi recitativo.” The succeeding Allegro is elaborate in construction. The Quartet closes with an echo of the second subject, but this time played Largamente. Surprisingly the work ends with a whisper, the final chord being in solid F major and played pizzicato.
Bliss, Arthur, As I Remember (London: Faber and Faber, 1970: Revised and enlarged, Thames Publishing, 1989)
Craggs, Stewart R., Arthur Bliss: A Bio-bibliography (Westport, Connecticut, Greenwood Press, 1988)
Craggs, Stewart R., Arthur Bliss: A Source Book (Aldershot, Scolar Press, 1996)
Foreman, Lewis, Arthur Bliss: Catalogue of the Complete Works (Sevenoaks, Novello, 1980; suppl. 1982)
Roscow, Gregory, ed., Bliss on Music: Selected Writings of Arthur Bliss 1920-1975, (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1991)
The files of Daily Telegraph, The Gramophone, The Musical Times, New York Times, Press and Journal, Radio Times, The Scotsman, The Stage, The Times, record and CD liner notes etc.
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