Elgar: String Quartet, Op. 83 / Piano Quintet, Op. 84

Edward Elgar (Composer), Ian Brown (Performer), Sorrel Quartet (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Ian Brown, Sorrel Quartet
• Composer: Edward Elgar
• Audio CD (April 24, 2001)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Chandos
• ASIN: B00005A8EM
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #30,331 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Elgar's large-scale rhetorical works are now familiar to most, but his chamber music deserves to be better known. These expansive three-movement pieces are late works, elegiac and deeply personal. The Quartet centers on a tenderly intimate slow movement. Flanking it are a tersely argued opening Allegro moderato and a Finale that has the fire and scale of some of his orchestral pieces. The Quintet, rhetorical and dramatic, is perhaps more immediately accessible. It, too, has a central Adagio movement of aching beauty. Ian Brown's muscular pianism doesn't lack for introspection when needed, and the four women of the Sorrel Quartet play both pieces with technical aplomb, stylish command, and the warmth that brings them to life. Choosing between this version, the Maggini Quartet on Naxos, and the classic EMI recordings with John Ogden in the Quintet is difficult; all capture the Elgarian essence of this fine music. --Dan Davis

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What wonderful music this is! I have loved the String Quartet ever since my first encounter with it and Elgarians only need to see the key signature of E minor to feel a thrill of anticipation. This is an undemonstrative key, tender and wistful, where the yellow that once was green is already turning brown, and autumn – season of mists and mellow fruitfulness – is already in the air. Although Elgar knew the whole orchestra inside out, he particularly understood the strings, and the score of Op. 83 is almost distrustfully plastered with markings: hairpins, accents, phrasings and dynamics abound in virtually every bar. In this recording of the String Quartet, the Sorrel Quartet have clearly been concerned to do the same, with handsome dividends.This, though, is not the end of the story. I have to confess that I haven't always loved the Piano Quintet. I wouldn't go quite so far as the author of the current volume on the composer in the Master Musicians series, Robert Anderson, whose description includes phrases such as 'sorry lapse' and 'vulgarity' – he is particularly embarrassed by the finale. But I wonder if the reasons for such hesitation are due to performance deficiencies, because this new version banished all my doubts at a stroke. Ian Brown seizes this music by the throat and gives us an account of grand rhetorical energy at those moments when it is called for, particularly in the finale. But there are other times when we are back in the world of the String Quartet, and here Brown is subtle and sensitive – with no loss of freedom and with his string colleagues always in responsive support. The slow movement is as heartfelt as one of the symphonies, the whole Quintet enhanced in status.There is a fair amount of competition in this repertoire. The Maggini Quartet in their 1997 recording of the identical coupling also bring their usual immense care for detail. But I love the sense of expansiveness in this new reading. Committed and even non-committed Elgarians should not hesitate. Piers Burton-Page

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Pieces - Great Recordings, January 18, 2006

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jwddewy "JH" (Rochester, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Elgar: String Quartet, Op. 83 / Piano Quintet, Op. 84 (Audio CD)

This is a fantastic CD. The pieces are extremely underrated, and this is a great recording of them. It was the only recording I could find at the time I was looking, and I have been very pleased. Great rich dark sounds and an ideal balance between piano and strings. They also have a beautiful way of playing Elgar's melodious phrases that is very emotional. I highly recommend this CD!