Gramophone – September 2019

gramophone.co.uk GRAMOPHONE SEPTEMBER 2019 121

CLASSICSRECONSIDERED

PHOTOGRAPHY:

WARNER CLASSICS

sprint. Back to being all about that bass,

though, and while Valentin Erben and

Schiff’s first prominent duet at bar 60 is

sublime, I want to hear more of the second

cello earlier, which is what you get with

Rostropovich and the Emerson. Likewise,

with the second cello’s pianissimo pizzicato

at bar 81 I can admire how barely there

Schiff’s is, but actually I want to hear some

real underpinning. Rostropovich delivers

that, via a delectably warm, rounded

glow – as does Gautier Capuçon with the

Ébène – without coming anywhere close

to being a bull in a china shop. This also

develops things nicely from the inevitably

softer viola pizzicato of bars 60 to 79.

RC I don’t want to be made too aware

of underpinning. It’s more a case of

‘overhearing’ than hearing, if you get my

drift. But there is a moment that only

Heifetz and his crew capture with heart-

stopping expressiveness. It comes just after

the fiery F minor middle section (where to

my ears Schiff and the ABQ sound rather

laboured), beyond the quiet, halting episode

that involves a number of meaningful pauses

for breath: the second violin weeps

a pianissimo transition, signalling a

confessional calm after the storm. Israel

Baker is the featured violinist for Heifetz

and I’ve yet to find a version that focuses the

moment with more affection. If you want to

compare, go to 9'06" on the ABQ recording,

then 6'41" on the Heifetz. Baker drifts in

on a warming spot of portamento before

Heifetz begins his ‘speaking’ commentary,

as only he can. Other versions might offer

comfort at the lower end of the spectrum,

but at the higher end, no one, surely,

compares with Heifetz. Nearest perhaps is

Alexander Schneider on the wonderful (and

more relaxed) Stern-Tortelier-Casals mono

recording. You want underpinning? There

you’ve got it, Council-approved.

CG So we are on different sides of the

underpinning fence, then! The Stern-

Tortelier-Casals recording is thoroughly

underpinned, but – and sorry, because now

I’m being really fussy – Casals is a bit too

growly for me at points. I’m with you

though on Schiff and the ABQ being a bit

of a slog to listen to in that slow-movement

F minor section. Also, tonally, there’s a

grating sharpness there to the violin sound,

and the whole section is preceded by a

rather abrupt-sounding transition (compare

it to how organic the Pavel Haas’s transition

sounds). Gosh, just listen to me moaning ...

In fact I think it’s time to come up with

some praise for poor old Schiff and the

ABQ, and indeed there’s plenty to genuinely

savour, beginning with the naturalness of

the acoustic itself, recorded in the Protestant

Church of Seon, Switzerland: not too close,

and just sonorous enough for the third-

movement’s fortissimo opening to playfully

hit the walls. No wonder RF approved.

‘Spooky’ unanimity between Heinrich Schi and the

Alban Berg Quartet in Schubert’s late masterpiece

RC It’s worth recalling that, back in

September 1992, in the context of

reviewing the Emerson’s recording,

Michael Jameson referred to Schiff and

the ABQ’s ‘long-breathed, motivic

splendour’ and the ensemble’s ‘dignified

Biedermeier sensibility ... whose

command of the Schubert idiom is total.’

And while MJ, like us, bemoaned the lack

of that sizeable first-movement repeat he

admired the augmented ABQ’s ‘rare and

ideal fusion of purpose, intellectual

assimilation and musicianship’. Thinking

about it, the ABQ’s ‘Biedermeier

sensibility’ places the work more in a safe

historical context than as part of an urgent

‘here and now’. That’s a valid viewpoint

but surely Schubert’s Quintet cannot rest

on its laurels, however secure. Like all

great music its needs the benefit of

constant interpretative renewal. So let’s

salute the startling contrasts between

Heifetz with Piatigorsky, Stern with

Casals and the two Rostropovich

recordings. Those and others stand to

teach us that Schubert’s greatest chamber

masterwork staunchly defies the notion of

a definitive, one-dimensional reading.

Therein lies the essence of its greatness.

CG True, this is a masterwork which can’t

be pigeon-holed into one definitive

approach. Plus, to add to my praise for the

ABQ and Schiff, their tonal matching and

overall blend is so exact that it’s actually

rather spooky; the result, perhaps, of

violinists Günter Pichler and Gerhard

Schulz, and viola player Thomas Kakuska,

all having Franz Samohyl as one of their

principal teachers, and of Erben and Schiff

both studying with Kühne and Navarra.

Still, I think constant interpretative

renewal has to be partnered by constant

critical renewal. So the question is, in light

of our many niggles with it (and clearly

neither of us would pick it as our favourite

older reading), does it genuinely deserve

the lofty status of ‘classic recording’?

Perhaps it depends on one’s definition of

‘classic’. Let’s remember, too, that the

gold isn’t all in the past. In fact it’s the

Ébène-Capuçon which stands as my own

overall desert-island choice: peerless

blending which yet celebrates individual

colours; a huskily sweet and luminous

slow movement; the whole work played

with perfectly pitched romance; and

indeed the album clearly a labour of

love, with the quintet followed by

Matthias Goerne singing Ébène cellist

Raphäel Merlin’s soulful string-quartet

arrangements of Schubert Lieder. So,

the ABQ and Schiff? There’s much to

admire. But ...