The Quatuor is a challenging work for performers on several levels. There are the many precise demands relating to dynamics and accentuation, and the inspiring yet daunting general directions to consider – the fifth movement, Messiaen insists, should be ‘ecstatic, majestic, meditative and very expressive’. This movement, the first of two ‘louanges’ (hymns of praise) to Jesus, is also to be played ‘infinitely slowly’ (with a metronome mark to show just what is precisely meant by this); it’s my main disappointment with this fine new recording that this movement for cello and piano and the concluding companion-piece for violin and piano, though most beautifully played, don’t quite achieve the calm grandeur of Messiaen’s vision. To hear the effect fully realised, turn to the 1980 Philips recording with Anner Bylsma and Vera Beths.
Here, Naxos has produced one of the best-recorded versions of the Quatuor; there’s enough ambience to accommodate the big moments, yet all the intimate detail is crisply focused. The Toronto-based Amici Ensemble take full advantage of this; in the ‘Fouillis d’arc-en-ciel’, for example, where each instrument has different dynamics, all four individually characterised parts can be heard to telling effect.
The opening ‘Liturgie de cristal’, played extremely delicately, sets the scene perfectly with cello harmonics and piano chords providing a hazy early-morning background for the emerging birdsong. The Amicis also offer one of the best versions, clear and precise, of the ‘Danse de la fureur’, yet also giving its jagged, irregular outlines just the ‘granitique’ quality that Messiaen demands. So, if not the ultimate performance of this great work, it is, none the less, a distinguished, thoughtful interpretation. The disc’s appeal is enhanced by an expansive, powerfully expressive account of the Theme et variations