NAXOS REVIEWS
Tippett Quartet: Tippett String Quartet No 4
* * * *
Rick Jones
The Times - October 11, 2008
The Tippett Quartet, formed in the year of the composer's death ten years ago, break into his fourth quartet with a shudder. Their intent is serious, their execution compelling, their ensemble immaculate, most notably as they run from the molto legato into the movement called Fast with a perfectly unanimous speed-change. Their chords wheeze together and pizzicati sting like darts. Moderately Slow burns a slow fuse to a climax of intensity and Beethoven, quoted in the finale, sounds like a siren, before Tippett's extreme bitterness ends. Quartets Nos 1 and 2 also appear, but they are mere warm-ups.
Tippett - String Quartets 1, 2 and 4
Tippett Quartet Naxos
* * * *
A decade after his death, just as Michael Tippett's star seems to be waning, along comes this superb reminder of his classically crafted quartets. The first two are imbued with English pastoralism, subtler in the second than the first. The fourth, written 35 years later, occupies a more demanding metaphysical world, but is no less rewarding. Excellent performances.
Andrew Clark – Financial Times, 4th October 2008
Tippett’s tribute is beautifully shaped by the eponymous quartet
Arnold Whittall, Gramophone, November 2008
Tippett’s Fourth String Quartet is an excellent example of how traditional formal processes could come up as new in his later, less conventionally tonal style. It is also by some way the most sophisticated of his various homages to Beethoven, explicit allusions to the Grosse Fuge placed in the context of more far-reaching echoes of the last quartet, op 135, with its question-and-answer motto (“Must it be? It must be”). Like the Beethoven, the work as a whole balances joyous dance figures against solemn incantations, and the Tippett Quartet, launching a two-disc series, are as expert as any of their predecessors on disc in achieving an ideal balance between rhythmic relaxations and expressive warmth. Tippett’s free-flowing counterpoint is beautifully shaped and controlled, so that any suspicions of counterproductive garrulousness on this voluble composer’s part are short-lived. And the one big difference from Beethoven—the withdrawn, uneasy ending—comes in this performance with a strong sense of rightness and even of resolution.
The Daily Telegraph
Matthew Rye - 15th November 2008
One expects consummate Tippett from an ensemble named after the composer, and there is a real sense of identification with the range of these three quartets, written between the late Thirties and the Seventies. The players capture the youthful glow of No 1, with a poignantly paced slow movement. By limiting their vibrato in the first two movements of No 2, they emphasise the music’s roots in early English polyphony. The Fourth quartet receives an absorbing performance, lyrical and Beethovenian by turns.
The Strad – SELECTION
TIPPETT: String Quartets nos.1, 2 & 4
Tippett Quartet finding lyricism in their namesake
Tippett himself coached the Lindsay Quartet (as it was then called) for its recording of his first three quartets (ASV) and wrote the last two for the same players. How much the composer became swept away by the big, bold and energetic style that characterized the Lindsay’s playing is questioned by this first disc of a complete cycle from the young Tippett Quartet.
If in the 1970s the Lindsay was pointing to the music’s modernity, the Tippett has the luxury now of looking backwards to find a greater degree of lyricism in this music, whose roots hark back to Beethoven. Technically the players rise to the many challenges made by the composer, at times with more certainty than the Lindsay, and we arrive at the finale of the Fourth Quartet before needing to question the security of intonation.
Though in general the Tippett players display an ample dynamic range, they take a more intimate view of the First Quartet, and soften moments of acerbity in the scoring. If tempos generally show little variance from those used by the Lindsay, the Tippett does employ a more urgent pulse in the second movement of both nos. 1 and 2, and in so doing gives a more purposeful shape to the music.
Those two scores come from when the composer was relatively young, but by the time he reached the Fourth Quartet in 1978 there is more aggression and dissonance, and from the start the music plunges into a conflict that extends through much of the score. The Tippett Quartet stops short of the Lindsay’s frenetic take on the finale; the music is marked ‘very fast’, though the composer was probably looking for an atmosphere that was verging on turmoil.
A scrupulously clean and clearly recorded disc.
DAVID DENTON
The Northern Echo
October 23, 2008
Gavin Engelbrecht
Tippett: String Concertos (Naxos 8.570496) The Tippett Quartet, one of Britain’s leading young string quartets, perform Sir Michael Tippett’s Quartets Nos 1, 2 and the dissonant No 4.
String Quartet No 1 hearkens back to Tippett’s compositional hero Beethoven, and follows the classic mould, while Quartet No 2 features abundant lyricism and lively dancing rhythms. String Quartet No 4 reflects the String Quartet Op. 131 of Beethoven. These are cohesive and compelling accounts of thoroughly enjoyable music.
THE LIVERPOOL DAILY POST
The Tippett String quartet plays Tippett’s Quartets Nos 1, 2 and 4, the first two being very characteristic of his early years, and in a style familiar from his Corelli Fantasia. No 4 dates from 1977. Those slightly wary of Tippett will not be disappointed by a budget priced Naxos disc.
Peter Spaull - 7th November 2008
CLASSICAL MUSIC SOURCE
Tippett String Quartets – Volume 1/The Tippett Quartet
Reviewed by: Mike Wheeler
The Tippett Quartet is one of the most exciting ensembles to have appeared in the UK in recent years. This Naxos release is the first instalment of its complete recording of Michael Tippett’s five mature string quartets. The difference between these two complementary approaches [Lindsay and Tippett] to the three works might be summed up as Romanticism, the Tippett’s less strenuous performances give the music a more airborne quality. While honours are complementary and more or less even in Quartets 1 and 2, The Tippett Quartet emerges as a marginal preference in No 4.
Tippett Quartet: Tippett String Quartet No 4
* * * *
Rick Jones
The Times - October 11, 2008
The Tippett Quartet, formed in the year of the composer's death ten years ago, break into his fourth quartet with a shudder. Their intent is serious, their execution compelling, their ensemble immaculate, most notably as they run from the molto legato into the movement called Fast with a perfectly unanimous speed-change. Their chords wheeze together and pizzicati sting like darts. Moderately Slow burns a slow fuse to a climax of intensity and Beethoven, quoted in the finale, sounds like a siren, before Tippett's extreme bitterness ends. Quartets Nos 1 and 2 also appear, but they are mere warm-ups.
Tippett - String Quartets 1, 2 and 4
Tippett Quartet Naxos
* * * *
A decade after his death, just as Michael Tippett's star seems to be waning, along comes this superb reminder of his classically crafted quartets. The first two are imbued with English pastoralism, subtler in the second than the first. The fourth, written 35 years later, occupies a more demanding metaphysical world, but is no less rewarding. Excellent performances.
Andrew Clark – Financial Times, 4th October 2008
Tippett’s tribute is beautifully shaped by the eponymous quartet
Arnold Whittall, Gramophone, November 2008
Tippett’s Fourth String Quartet is an excellent example of how traditional formal processes could come up as new in his later, less conventionally tonal style. It is also by some way the most sophisticated of his various homages to Beethoven, explicit allusions to the Grosse Fuge placed in the context of more far-reaching echoes of the last quartet, op 135, with its question-and-answer motto (“Must it be? It must be”). Like the Beethoven, the work as a whole balances joyous dance figures against solemn incantations, and the Tippett Quartet, launching a two-disc series, are as expert as any of their predecessors on disc in achieving an ideal balance between rhythmic relaxations and expressive warmth. Tippett’s free-flowing counterpoint is beautifully shaped and controlled, so that any suspicions of counterproductive garrulousness on this voluble composer’s part are short-lived. And the one big difference from Beethoven—the withdrawn, uneasy ending—comes in this performance with a strong sense of rightness and even of resolution.
The Daily Telegraph
Matthew Rye - 15th November 2008
One expects consummate Tippett from an ensemble named after the composer, and there is a real sense of identification with the range of these three quartets, written between the late Thirties and the Seventies. The players capture the youthful glow of No 1, with a poignantly paced slow movement. By limiting their vibrato in the first two movements of No 2, they emphasise the music’s roots in early English polyphony. The Fourth quartet receives an absorbing performance, lyrical and Beethovenian by turns.
The Strad – SELECTION
TIPPETT: String Quartets nos.1, 2 & 4
Tippett Quartet finding lyricism in their namesake
Tippett himself coached the Lindsay Quartet (as it was then called) for its recording of his first three quartets (ASV) and wrote the last two for the same players. How much the composer became swept away by the big, bold and energetic style that characterized the Lindsay’s playing is questioned by this first disc of a complete cycle from the young Tippett Quartet.
If in the 1970s the Lindsay was pointing to the music’s modernity, the Tippett has the luxury now of looking backwards to find a greater degree of lyricism in this music, whose roots hark back to Beethoven. Technically the players rise to the many challenges made by the composer, at times with more certainty than the Lindsay, and we arrive at the finale of the Fourth Quartet before needing to question the security of intonation.
Though in general the Tippett players display an ample dynamic range, they take a more intimate view of the First Quartet, and soften moments of acerbity in the scoring. If tempos generally show little variance from those used by the Lindsay, the Tippett does employ a more urgent pulse in the second movement of both nos. 1 and 2, and in so doing gives a more purposeful shape to the music.
Those two scores come from when the composer was relatively young, but by the time he reached the Fourth Quartet in 1978 there is more aggression and dissonance, and from the start the music plunges into a conflict that extends through much of the score. The Tippett Quartet stops short of the Lindsay’s frenetic take on the finale; the music is marked ‘very fast’, though the composer was probably looking for an atmosphere that was verging on turmoil.
A scrupulously clean and clearly recorded disc.
DAVID DENTON
The Northern Echo
October 23, 2008
Gavin Engelbrecht
Tippett: String Concertos (Naxos 8.570496) The Tippett Quartet, one of Britain’s leading young string quartets, perform Sir Michael Tippett’s Quartets Nos 1, 2 and the dissonant No 4.
String Quartet No 1 hearkens back to Tippett’s compositional hero Beethoven, and follows the classic mould, while Quartet No 2 features abundant lyricism and lively dancing rhythms. String Quartet No 4 reflects the String Quartet Op. 131 of Beethoven. These are cohesive and compelling accounts of thoroughly enjoyable music.
THE LIVERPOOL DAILY POST
The Tippett String quartet plays Tippett’s Quartets Nos 1, 2 and 4, the first two being very characteristic of his early years, and in a style familiar from his Corelli Fantasia. No 4 dates from 1977. Those slightly wary of Tippett will not be disappointed by a budget priced Naxos disc.
Peter Spaull - 7th November 2008
CLASSICAL MUSIC SOURCE
Tippett String Quartets – Volume 1/The Tippett Quartet
Reviewed by: Mike Wheeler
The Tippett Quartet is one of the most exciting ensembles to have appeared in the UK in recent years. This Naxos release is the first instalment of its complete recording of Michael Tippett’s five mature string quartets. The difference between these two complementary approaches [Lindsay and Tippett] to the three works might be summed up as Romanticism, the Tippett’s less strenuous performances give the music a more airborne quality. While honours are complementary and more or less even in Quartets 1 and 2, The Tippett Quartet emerges as a marginal preference in No 4.