Customer Reviews

Arriaga: String Quartets

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Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga (1806-1826) was, like Mozart, Mendelssohn and Korngold, a child prodigy composer. Until I had heard his Symphony in D and his overture 'Los esclavos felices,' which I reviewed almost two years ago, I had never heard a note of his music, having known his name only. I gave that earlier Naxos CD a very positive review, and you'll find that I am doing the same here. These three string quartets, all written when he was eighteen (and barely a year before his tragic death from pneumonia at the age of 19), are simply magnificent. They also display some progression of his talent from the first to the third. Actually, though, the first has some formal attributes that are a bit unusual for a young composer of the classical school, and it seems clear that had he lived Arriaga would have developed further and possibly become one of the lights of the burgeoning Romantic school just taking off when he died.

Arriaga clearly had a talent for writing memorable melodies. But he also had a good grasp of form, enough so that he could alter and bend the usual classical quartet form to his own ends. For instance, he starts the fourth movement of Quartet No. 1 with an adagio introduction, reminiscent of similar passages by Haydn, but then he surprises us by bringing it back, transformed, toward the end of the allegretto rondo that is the main portion of the movement. Also, in the 6/8 minuet of that quartet the first section is written with two accented beats per bar, but in the trio this becomes three beats per bar. Not earth-shaking, to be sure, but still an unusual thing for such a young composer to pull off so effectively.

The Second Quartet is probably the most conventional of the three, but the variation movement (II) is really memorable, with a long melancholy main theme that is transformed gradually as we go along. The pizzicato variation is particularly effective. The finale contains two versions of a unison cadenza-like section before and after the exposition.

The Third Quartet is most notable for its greater contrapuntal complexity than its predecessors. The second movement, called Pastorale, is possibly my favorite movement of all, not only for its lovely melodic musings, but also its instrumental sophistication. The minuet has much the feel of a dramatic scherzo, although it hews to the minuet form. The scurrying Presto finale is a fitting conclusion to this set of three marvelous quartets by a young composer barely old enough to shave.

There have been other recordings of these quartets, but I have not heard them. I am, however, satisfied with these fine performances by the Camerata Boccherini, a group with one American and three Italian string players. They are reportedly playing on 'authentic instruments' and I don't know if that means gut-strung instruments from the period in which the quartets were written. Frankly, they sound like modern instruments to me. The recorded sound is crystal clear.

If you buy this CD you will almost certainly not be disappointed.

Scott Morrison

Like the remarkable Symphony of Juan Chrisostomo Arriaga, these three string quartets hint at what the world lost by the composer's early death. If anything, they are more accomplished than the Symphony (though the slow movement of that Symphony is beyond what any teenager, except the teenage Mendelssohn, ever achieved in music). The numbering of the quartets may show something about the publishing practices of the day. Composers usually put their best foot forward; take, for example, the First Piano Concerto of both Beethoven and Chopin. In both cases, they actually postdate a less ambitious Second Concerto. So it is with Arriaga. The Second Quartet is the most traditional, with a genial first movement that seems modeled closely on the opening of Beethoven's Sixth, by the time Arriaga was writing, a classic of some twenty years' vintage. Arriaga's First Quartet, though, is a more intense affair. Cast in the minor key, it's dramatic and moving, a bit of Sturm und Drang Parisian style. (Arriaga was studying composition in Paris with F.-J. Fetis when these quartets were written.)

No. 3 takes us to an even higher plane, however, with a very substantial (six minutes long) Presto last movement and a "Minuet" third movement that is actually a haunted scherzo recalling Haydn in one of his more diabolical moods (for example, the Witch's Minuet from the Quartet Op. 72, No. 2). Again, the most immediate model seems to be the Beethoven Opus 18 Quartets, but the Beethovenian theme of the first movement quickly evaporates into harmonic regions and even developmental possibilities that Beethoven circa 1800 hadn't yet dreamed of. But maybe the most arresting movement is the second, cast as a pastorale. The A section is deceptively Rococo-like, with little figures that mimic birdcalls and other country sounds, but the B section, supposedly portraying a thunderstorm, is more like a storm of the soul, with troubling, powerful tremolos. Here, Arriaga recalls his near contemporary Franz Schubert; I think of the finale of the Octet, with its ominous opening tremolos in the strings, or the disquieting String Quartet No. 15.

So, this may be music by a teenage composer, but the accomplishment and even the vision are remarkable. Arriaga seems to have learned all there was to know about Classical style and even to grasp the direction toward full-blown Romanticism that music was taking in composers such as Schubert, whose music he couldn't have known at all.

I've heard other performances of the Quartets, but I haven't heard any that surpass those of the Camerata Boccherini, an Italian quartet specializing in early music. They play with a sweet sound, with impeccable intonation, which isn't always true of musicians playing on authentic string instruments. The recording, made in the Canary Islands, is a very stereo affair: a wide sound stage and yet with clear placement of the instruments. It's realistic, with good presence as well as a nice sense of the hall. There's no reason to pay more for these quartets, although you easily could.

Having enjoyed the other naxos disc with Arriagas symphony, I wanted to check this out. These three quartets are the works of a teenager which demonstrates remarkable skill at an early age. Like many of Mozart's early works these demonstarte potential. Unforunately Arriaga died at age 19. The tunefulness of these quartets is infectios. I most particullarly enjoyed the second with its andante convariaciones which seem to sound like twinkle twinkle.

This doesn't belong in the basic classical music colllection but those with interest in Spanish music.

Please excuse typos i have a neurologic disease.

The skill of the group is excellent but the in the recording the first violin is miked louder than the lower instruments and the lower strings are not as easy to hear. Since I bought this quartet to listen specificially to the 2nd violin part (I am playing that part in my quartet)it is more difficult to hear what I am supposed to play.

too bad Arriaga died so young!
Makes one wonder what he would have come up with had he lived at least as long as Mozart. Marvelous music, well performed - a must for any classical music lover.

At the time when Beethoven was writing his late SQs, these pieces arrived. They are definitely set in the Romantic Era and have captivating melodies and harmonies. They are excellent works, each SQ is well-crafted with a fine polish.

The performance is outstanding as with all of NAXOS recordings. If you are looking to see who wrote great SQs during the early 19th century definitely consider Arriaga's as well as George Onslow.