THE NEWYORKER, DECEMBER 2, 2019 73
stable foundation and a space for inde-
pendent expression. In a recent inter-
view with Downbeat, Eicher reiterated
his simple, deep philosophy: “It is all
about curiosity. It began that way and I
am still pursuing that. I am always search-
ing for new sounds.”
A
t first glance, the four young
Scandinavians who form the Dan-
ish String Quartet—Frederik Øland,
Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin, Rune Tonsgaard
Sørensen, and Asbjørn Nørgaard—seem
to be unlikely additions to ECM’s mo-
nastic lineup. They are an informal,
shaggy-haired lot, resembling an in-
die-rock band more than a chamber
group. During a recent West Coast tour,
they took time off to attend a football
game at the University of California,
Berkeley. In an introductory note for
their ECM project “Prism,” which is
centered on Beethoven’s late quartets,
they describe the works in question as
“mind-blowing.” They fall into fluent
ECM-speak, though, when they offer
the image of “a beam of music ... split
through Beethoven’s prism.”
The Danes are, in fact, musicians of
impeccable refinement, and the first two
“Prism” releases suggest a major cycle in
the making. Each disk sets Beethoven
alongside a later composer: “Prism I”
pairs the Opus 127 Quartet with Shos-
takovich’s spectral Fifteenth Quartet;
“Prism II” places Opus 130 next to Al-
fred Schnittke’s fraught Third Quartet.
There is nothing novel in pointing out
the visionary quality of late Beethoven.
Yet the Danes complicate the narrative
by including, at the start of each install-
ment, an arrangement of a fugue by Bach,
thereby emphasizing not only Beetho-
ven’s premonitions of the future but also
his consciousness of the past. Prior ECM
releases might have inspired the format:
Demenga has linked Bach to contem-
porary composers, and Kashkashian has
blended Schumann with György Kurtág.
Not unexpectedly, the members of
the Danish Quartet bring tonal heft and
rhythmic vigor to the proceedings. Their
Beethoven is no cosmic enigma: you reg-
ister the physicality of his stomping os-
tinatos, the off-kilter drive of his dance
movements, the playful abruptness of his
stylistic transitions. Beethoven practiced
polystylism long before Schnittke em-
ployed that term: the late quartets jux-
tapose Bachian counterpoint with Ros-
sinian frivolity. Conventional wisdom
holds that players must have decades of
experience to do this music justice, but
younger ensembles often thrive on its
kaleidoscopic, dial-spinning nature.
At the same time, the Danes have no
trouble stepping outside worldly realms
and into zones of rapt contemplation.
The Adagio of Opus 127 is taken at a
riskily slow tempo, yet it unfolds in long-
breathed lyric arcs. The Cavatina of Opus
130 is steeped in unaffected Old World
style, with throaty portamento slides
from note to note. The wrenching sec-
tion marked “beklemmt”—oppressed, an-
guished—curls inward toward silence,
with bows brushing on the strings in
whispered gasps. The great hymnal
chords that underpin these slow move-
ments are tuned with extraordinary care,
delivering a chiaroscuro of resonance.
Earlier this month, the Danes pre-
sented a spellbinding live version of
“Prism II” at Cal Performances, in Ber-
keley. They began with Bach’s Fugue in
B Minor, from the first book of the
“Well-Tempered Clavier.” Beethoven may
well have had Bach’s fugue subject in
mind when he wrote the Grosse Fuge,
the original finale of Opus 130. Schnittke,
in turn, weaves that theme into his quar-
tet. The Danes, playing with nerve-fraying
intensity, created the impression of a su-
per-quartet spanning centuries. In Feb-
ruary, they will perform Beethoven’s en-
tire quartet cycle at the Chamber Music
Society of Lincoln Center. Those concerts
will be worth hearing, though the “Prism”
project would have been more welcome.
How long can ECM go on making
records of this calibre? Eicher is seventy-
six, and he is still involved in every as-
pect of his business. His imprimatur re-
tains its power: the only biographical text
on the home page of the Danish Quar-
tet’s Web site is “ECM Recording Art-
ists.” Although producers of Eicher’s dis-
cernment are rare, a successor might be
found. The bigger question is whether
record companies remain viable economic
enterprises in the age of streaming, which
has reduced royalties to a pittance. Con-
sumers show more fealty to apps and
media conglomerates than to labels and
artists. I’d recommend one of the Dan-
ish Quartet’s disks for holiday shopping,
but the days of giving music as a gift
seem to be drawing to a close. chiltons.com 866-883-3366Handcrafted, timeless design.Visit our Maine
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