Of the various non-Hungarian composers who drew musical sustenance from Bartok, none grew stronger, or more distinctive, than Munich-born Karl Amadeus Hartmann. The present coupling juxtaposes Bartok’s innovatory Fourth Quartet (1928) with a prize-winning quartet that Hartmann wrote in 1933. Hartmann’s mistily harmonised Langsam opening turns violent just before the four-minute mark. The muted second movement places the cellist centre-stage (Bartok does the same in the middle movement of his Fourth), while his finale – to be played con tutta forza – mirrors the high-octane of Bartok’s fifth movement. Both composers were significantly influenced by Berg’s Lyric Suite, a fact vividly reflected in their imaginative approaches to string sound per se. Hartmann’s language is introverted, questing, harmonically bold and economical. Not a note is wasted (it rarely is), and the performance under review could hardly be bettered. A first encounter made a strong impression, a second was even more fruitful and the work is already pulling rank in my memory bank alongside choice quartets by Bartok, Schoenberg, Janaeek and Shostakovich.
I’m told that the Zehetmair Quartet play their repertoire by heart, and you can sense spontaneous engagement in both works, especially in Bartok’s Fourth, where the trenchant opening Allegro is treated to an unusual (though never disfiguring) level of freedom. The entire performance has a distinctly improvisational feel to it, the finale in particular, which tears off at a terrific lick, yet stops short of excessive tenseness. I’d say that the Vegh Quartet’s later recording is the nearest point of reference, but as the coupling is unique – and most other versions come packed in with the other five quartets – direct comparisons aren’t strictly relevant.
One could, I suppose, baulk at the meagre 43-minute playing time, and yet with music as intense and demanding as this, it’s doubtful that even the most resilient listener would – or could – submit to ‘more of same’. Fine sound