Simpson composed his first three quartets between 1951 and 1954. On the occasion of their performance at the Arts Council in February 1955 by the Element Quartet he noted that “although they were not consciously designed as a group, they nevertheless seem to fall into a natural sequence” (the composer’s programme-note for that occasion is reproduced in facsimile in Pearl’s booklet).
It would be almost 20 years before he would return to the medium, with his three Razumovsky-paraphrase quartets, and the Delme Quartet illuminatingly couple one of each trilogy together. But it is just as fascinating to hear the early quartets in sequence, not least because each appears to take its first expressive cue from the close of the previous one. The post-conflictual Elysian dance which closes No. 1 supplies the mood of endangered innocence for the opening of No. 2. The sorrowful viola-led conclusion to No. 2, which confirms failure to recapture initial cheerfulness, is picked up at the opening of No. 3 (this work is dedicated to Dorothy Hemming, violist of the Element Quartet). All the while the initially slightly undigested mixture of Haydn, late Beethoven and Nielsen is gradually being refined and blended into something priceless and inimitable, and the outpouring of energy at the end of the Third Quartet makes for a wonderfully invigorating conclusion.
The Element’s performances are highly competent – not quite as assured or as euphonious as the Delme’s, but radiating every bit as much belief in the music. Pianissimos are surprisingly loud, perhaps because it would have been unrealistic to expect private recording technology in the early 1950s to cope with anything more hushed. Still, given that the Pearl team were working from acetates and privately owned reel-to-reel tapes, the level of background hiss is low and the moments of distortion few and perfectly tolerable. Beyond the problems described in the uncredited ‘Producer’s Note’, the only serious glitch I noticed was a crotchet beat lost from the Second Quartet at 11'54''.
Hardly preferable to the Hyperion cycle then, but this is certainly an issue for Simpson devotees to treasure.'