BRITTEN 3 String Quartets

All three Britten quartets from the Endellion and two from the Emperor

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Benjamin Britten

Genre:

Chamber

Label: Warner Classics

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 89

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: 2564 64200-8

2564 64200-8. BRITTEN 3 String Quartets. Three Divertimenti

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
String Quartet No. 1 Benjamin Britten, Composer
Benjamin Britten, Composer
Endellion Quartet
String Quartet No. 2 Benjamin Britten, Composer
Benjamin Britten, Composer
String Quartet No. 3 Benjamin Britten, Composer
Benjamin Britten, Composer
Endellion Quartet
(3) Divertimentos Benjamin Britten, Composer
Benjamin Britten, Composer
Endellion Quartet

Composer or Director: Benjamin Britten

Genre:

Chamber

Label: BIS

Media Format: Super Audio CD

Media Runtime: 55

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: BIS1570

BIS1570. BRITTEN String Quartets Nos 1 & 3. Alla Marcia. Emperor Quartet

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
String Quartet No. 1 Benjamin Britten, Composer
Benjamin Britten, Composer
Emperor String Quartet
Alla marcia Benjamin Britten, Composer
Benjamin Britten, Composer
Emperor String Quartet
String Quartet No. 3 Benjamin Britten, Composer
Benjamin Britten, Composer
Emperor String Quartet
One of the most strikingly understated ways to chart the progress of Britten as a composer is to put the three string quartets together on one disc. The main contrast is between the First and Third: one written when Britten was in America, desperately homesick and still to be accepted as a composer of any real force, the other in the 1970s, after a period of personal hardship. Of his early chamber music, Britten refused to accept a vast amount into his ‘collection’ and it is perceptive of the Emperor Quartet to include the very early Alla marcia on their disc (the follow-up to their fearless and bright 2010 recording of the Second Quartet and the Miniature Suite, another early piece spared Britten’s ‘drawer of horrors’ – A/10). It is most definitely allied to the First Quartet here – their youthful and appropriately caustic playing of the fragmented themes stylised away from the Third Quartet, which they approach more as the jaded-but-upbeat piece it is, written by an iller and more tired composer over 30 years later.

It is hard not to see the Endellion Quartet squeezing more of Britten’s own essence out of this repertoire. The friendliness of their playing has long been one of their unique selling points; and, from the tang of the sea that can be sensed in the First Quartet to the resolute refusal of optimism in the Third, through their endless experience of playing as a single voice they bring out the pure Englishness of the music. There is less a sense that they are trying to make a statement about Britten and more that they are presenting the listener with music they simply feel is beautiful, and for which they feel genuine love.

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