Bach and Phantasm. Beethoven and the Tetzlaff Quartett

The Consort of Viols died out after the middle of the 17^th century, and it is highly doubtful whether Johann Sebastian Bach ever heard one. I was fascinated and impressed listening to a new CD from the Consort called Phantasm where it plays arrangements of twenty preludes and fugues by Bach, plus occasional ricercars and other pieces. These arrangements underline several aspects of Bach's music: his extreme harmonic daring at times (a bit like Henry Purcell), the complexity of his musical textures, the fact that Bach translates and transcribes happily for pretty well any instrumental combination – including some he would never have imagined, like a consort of viols – and how Bach's music was often rooted in the world of the 17^th century rather than in the new 18^th century world heavily influenced by the Italians. I am not a fan of “olde worlde string playing”, but Phantasm's viols have a rich and highly mellow sound, quite unlike the rasp and squeal of “baroque” string players. These performances increase my already enormous admiration for Bach's music. Highly recommended for a new musical experience and for a real revelation of Bach's preludes and fugues.

Bach's music can adapt to pretty well any instrumental combination. Not so Beethoven's string quartets that are firmly embedded in two violins, one viola, and one cello. Eminent conductors as diverse as Furtwängler and Klemperer conducted the Grosse Fuga with string orchestras, and Toscanini conducted the sixteenth quartet with a string orchestra. But these attempts at “orchestrating” Beethoven's chamber music really did not work and are now merely historical curiosities (although I still have much admiration for Klemperer and the Philharmonia in the Grosse Fuga, a recording I have known since the mid- 1950s).

“What do I care about your miserable fiddle when the spirit speaks to me?” Beethoven is alleged to have asked Ignaz Schuppanzigh when the quartet leader expressed qualms about playing the Grosse Fuga. Benjamin Britten remarked, with prescience, that “that was where the rot set in” (composers thumbing their noses at performers and audiences). My initial great enthusiasm for Beethoven's music has somewhat waned over the decades; but my allegiance to the late string quartets has never wavered. This is truly great music. I seized with alacrity a new CD from the Tetzlaff Quartett that couples the A minor quartet opus 132 with the B flat quartet opus 130. The Tetzlaff players still favour somewhat extreme dynamics, but this is wonderful music with superb playing and recording (Ondine). Quite rightly, the Tetzlaffs omit Beethoven's get-you-home finale for opus 130 and end the work with the great fugue that so intimidated Schuppanzigh. The fugue is a perfect finale after the sublime Cavatina. With the Pavel Haas Quartet and the Tetzlaff Quartett, I am spoilt for choice when it comes to favourite contemporary string quartets.