Fritz Kreisler's String Quartet

I have been listening with great pleasure to Fritz Kreisler's String Quartet in A Minor, played on a recent Naxos transfer by the Kreisler String Quartet. The 1935 recording is expertly transferred by Ward Marston and is Volume 11 of Naxos's admirable survey of all Kreisler's recordings (the concerto recordings are in a separate series on Naxos). First violin is, of course, Fritz himself; the viola player is William Primrose.

The quartet in conventional four movements makes for highly attractive listening. The music is quintessential fin de siècle Viennese (Kreisler was born in 1875). Had the quartet been written by a Moslem or African woman, it would be heard regularly in the current “inclusive” climate. Inevitably, the violin has the lion's share of the action, but with Kreisler playing his own music, all to the good. I have only two other recordings of the work: one by Nigel Kennedy and friends in his pre- pop star guise, and the other by the Fine Arts Quartet in 2010. To my great shame, I can recall neither recording, but Kreisler playing Kreisler is inimitable. Highly recommended. Elsewhere on Volume 11 we can admire Kreisler in the usual short duo pieces. The sound, as usual, is inimitable. What always fascinates me with Kreisler's playing is the way he articulates the music with his right arm (the bow). Most modern violinists concentrate on developing a kind of son filé, a stream of beautiful sound a bit like an oboe. The art of using the bow appears to have been lost.