CD Reviews

The Tippett Quartet has been enthusiastically received in these pages by Jerry Dubins (Bax and Bridge, Fanfare 34:5), Paul Ingram (Tippett’s Third and Fifth Quartets, Fanfare 33:4), and Lynn René Bayley (Tippett’s First, Second, and Fourth Quartets, Fanfare 32:6). Ingram in particular wrote of their balancing “detail, tight rhythm, and emotional response without losing tonal focus or the long structural view,” and I second those views. Arnell’s Fifth Quartet notably never lets up in its technical and expressive demands, and these are met here with great success. I should also mention that the Tippett musicians are not only technically expert, but possess a sleek beauty of tone, though if these performances are anything to judge, they aren’t enslaved by it.

Excellent sound, and good liner notes. Definitely recommended.

Suffice it to say, the Tippett Quartet perform with heaps of commitment and supreme technical accomplishment; indeed, it’s hard to imagine this repertoire receiving more eloquent and understanding advocacy.  Robert Matthew-Walker’s exemplary notes and Michael Ponder’s glowingly real sound add further lustre to yet another strongly reccomendable from those enterprising folk at Dutton. Dont hesitate for a moment.

They display a keen sense of teamwork and communication, and perform with a tight, clear and focused direction. The first violin really sings in the high register and the cello is full-bodied and resonant when the music demands it. They play this Tovey quartet with a perfect blend of discipline and joy. The Guild recording, captured inside a church, uses the room’s natural reverberation perfectly, and delivers a rich and pliable sound that brings out the instruments qualities very well. Highly recommended for both the quality of the music of this unknown work, and for the recording itself.

I’m sure these are not easy works for a quartet to bring off, but the members of the Tippett Quartet sound as if they’re really enjoying this meaty and affirmative music, and doing their utmost to present it as eloquently as possible. I very much hope they have been booked to do a follow-up disc of Tovey’s D minor Quartet, with the Piano Quintet and Gluck Variations. Highly recommended.

The Tippett Quartet addresses these two masterworks with sympathy, understanding and relish. It is so good to see such attention to detail and musical engagement with music that is at the fringes of the repertoire. Their efforts here must surely bring Tovey’s chamber works to a wider audience.

… all credit to the enterprise of the fine Tippet Quartet and the Guild label… very well played and recorded with striking immediacy.

Commendable, nonetheless, are the efforts of the Tippett Quartet for doing its best to salvage Tovey from his relative obscurity….Performances and recording are first-rate….

…The Tippett Quartet, founded in 1998, is most excellent. The players handle this dauntingly difficult music with technical assurance, a beautiful, varied tone, rhythmic vitality, and total emotional commitment.

…The three works as performed with great technical skill, articulation and sheer understanding of the music.  Naturally there is a hiatus in style between the first two Quartets and the last. Yet the Tippett Quartet are equally at home with the lyrical demands of the earlier works as they are with the more complex, dissonant and involved structures of the last. However, if the listener needs a sample of the sheer perfection of this recording, they only need to listen to the Lento cantabile of the A major Quartet. This is surely one of the most beautiful and moving pieces of music in Tippett’s catalogue in particular and in English music in general.