{"id":44948,"date":"2024-07-09T11:41:36","date_gmt":"2024-07-09T09:41:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/d1c1811f-4595-43c8-9741-e83183afa09f"},"modified":"2024-07-09T14:37:25","modified_gmt":"2024-07-09T12:37:25","slug":"brahms-string-quintets","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/brahms-string-quintets\/","title":{"rendered":"Brahms: String Quintets"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"rssexcerpt\"><\/p><p class=\"rssauthor\">By <\/p><p class=\"rssbyline\">Published: Tuesday, 09 July 2024 at 09:41 AM<\/p><hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/><?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\" standalone=\"yes\"?>\n<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><body><p>This superb recording of Brahms\u2019s String Quintets features rich contrasts and playing open to risk from the gregarious Gringolts Quartet, says Jessica Duchen<\/p><p><strong>Brahms<\/strong><br\/>String Quintet No. 1 in F major; String Quintet No. 2 in G major<br\/>Lilli Maijala (viola); Gringolts Quartet<br\/><em>BIS BIS-2727\u00a0\u00a0\u00a061:29 mins\u00a0<\/em><\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2024\/07\/REVIEWS-REC-OF-THE-MONTH-Brahms-String-Quintet-No.-1-in-F-Major.mp3\"\/><\/figure><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/johannes-brahms\">Brahms<\/a>\u2019s two string quintets seem occasionally to lose out to the sheer popularity of his two early sextets. Both the former, in the format of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/introduction-mozart\">Mozart<\/a>\u2019s string quintets with a second viola (as opposed to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/franz-schubert\">Schubert<\/a>\u2019s, with a second cello), are comparatively late works, dating respectively from 1883 and 1890. <\/p><p>That is reflected in the sophistication and subtlety of his writing: try the sleight-of-hand rhythms in the opening allegro of No. 1, the extraordinary harmonic malleability in its second movement, and the ceaseless textural inventiveness.\u00a0<\/p><p>Although Brahms considered No. 1 perhaps his own finest work, No. 2 is the more extrovert and expansive piece, besides being longer, with four movements instead of three. Its echoes of Austrian folk music have led it sometimes to be nicknamed the \u2018Prater\u2019 Quintet, after the amusement park at the edge of Vienna, but it is no less irresistible for that. <\/p><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-is-folk-music\">What is folk music?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><p>Brahms, in his late fifties, is at his earthiest and sounds as if he was having the time of his life. After its premiere, the composer felt he had achieved enough and\u00a0could now look forward to a carefree retirement from composition. (Fortunately for us, he encountered shortly afterwards the clarinet playing of Richard M\u00fchlfeld and the rest is history.)<\/p><p>In this superb recording, the Gringolts Quartet \u2013 Ilya Gringolts and Anahit Kurtikyan (violins), Silvia Simionescu (viola) and Claudius Herrmann (cello) \u2013 and violist Lilli Maijala do the quintets proud, with a passionate, committed account that seems to employ 360 degrees of expressive technique.\u00a0<\/p><p>There\u2019s a wealth of characterisation within this richly unified, bronze-dark ensemble. A deep-dug, chunky tone, often quite rugged, is offset by moments of intense sweetness, as well as great delicacy and refinement. <\/p><p>Besides being beautifully balanced and transparent, some of the softest passages acquire an \u2018innigkeit\u2019 (introspection) that can make you hold your breath. One example is the end of No. 1\u2019s second movement, which is phenomenal; the detail and care that this playing involves is something inspiring.<\/p><p>The five players use portamento and vibrato, and sometimes the lack of it, for colour and character, which is an ideal approach. It is only in one or two places that the under-use of vibrato produces a sound that is maybe a little bit too rough for its melodic purposes \u2013 the first movement of No. 2, for instance, has a fair bit of that. <\/p><p>In some ways, this can be an acquired taste; yet the advantage is that you never feel they are playing it safe. They take sometimes extreme risks \u2013 and oftener than not, it works.<\/p><p>Most pleasing of all is that this multifaceted, technicolour playing brings out the best in Brahms by never chasing mere effect or turning to shouty exaggeration (which has become widespread and remains one of my pet loathings; it\u2019s the musical equivalent of writing in capital letters). <\/p><p>Everything relates to the composer\u2019s purpose; and the sense of structure, articulated by the different personalities of the various themes, is a firm interpretative base throughout, brought into relief by the ensemble\u2019s attentive colouring. Their wealth of expression is further enhanced by the superb, warm and clear recorded sound.<\/p><p>Incidentally, the cellist Claudius Herrmann is playing a Maggini of 1600 which was owned by Prince Galitsin and used in the premiere of some of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/ludwig-van-beethoven\">Beethoven<\/a>\u2019s last quartets. It is a slightly mind-boggling thought \u2013 and it sounds gorgeous.\u00a0<em>Jessica Duchen<\/em><\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video controls=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2024\/07\/REVIEWS-RECORDING-OF-THE-MONTH-Brahms-Quintet-Gringolts.mov\"\/><\/figure> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Published: Tuesday, 09 July 2024 at 09:41 AM This superb recording of Brahms\u2019s String Quintets features rich contrasts and playing open to risk from the gregarious Gringolts Quartet, says Jessica Duchen BrahmsString Quintet No. 1 in F major; String Quintet No. 2 in G majorLilli Maijala (viola); Gringolts QuartetBIS BIS-2727\u00a0\u00a0\u00a061:29 mins\u00a0 Brahms\u2019s two string [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":44949,"template":"","categories":[1,83,19],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/07\/brahms-string-quintets.jpg",900,900,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/07\/brahms-string-quintets-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/07\/brahms-string-quintets-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/07\/brahms-string-quintets-768x768.jpg",768,768,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/07\/brahms-string-quintets.jpg",800,800,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/07\/brahms-string-quintets.jpg",900,900,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/07\/brahms-string-quintets.jpg",900,900,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Published: Tuesday, 09 July 2024 at 09:41 AM This superb recording of Brahms\u2019s String Quintets features rich contrasts and playing open to risk from the gregarious Gringolts Quartet, says Jessica Duchen BrahmsString Quintet No. 1 in F major; String Quintet No. 2 in G majorLilli Maijala (viola); Gringolts QuartetBIS BIS-2727\u00a0\u00a0\u00a061:29 mins\u00a0 Brahms\u2019s two string&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/44948"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}