Lysenko Quartet - Valentin Silvestrov: Music for String Quartet (2000)

The three string quartets of Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov are infrequently performed and were long unrecorded, but for this 1992 world-premiere disc from the Lysenko String Quartet and Etcetera; since its release, the String Quartet No. 1 (1974) has been recorded once more by the Rosamunde Quartett on ECM in 2002, but the Quartetto Piccolo (1961) and the String Quartet No. 2 (1988) are only available here. The scant attention paid to Silvestrov's music is due less to any true deficiency in his writing or confusion about his intentions, than to the simple fact that music like his has been heard before; and even though it is listenable and often pleasant, it has a derivative quality that produces an undeniable sense of déjà vu. Silvestrov, like Alfred Schnittke, Edison Denisov, and Sofia Gubaidulina, appeared at a time of transition in Soviet-era music; while his works of the 1960s reflect his youthful enthusiasm for twelve-tone practices and avant-garde experimentation, the works from the 1970s onward are more traditional in feeling and often convey Silvestrov's interest in old Russian music, as well as Classical and Romantic styles. If the extremely short, sketchy Quartetto Piccolo seems like a student's knock-off of Webern, then at least the String Quartet No. 1 is longer, more fleshed out, and agreeably neo-Romantic in its vaguely tonal directions. But it does go on for quite a long time, cast more or less as an adagio in the Beethovenian, Heilige dankgesang mold; though it has a meandering musical argument with very little tension, its soothing timbres and mystical, hymnlike harmonies are captivating, in the manner of Tavener's or Pärt's quiet works for string quartet. The String Quartet No. 2 has more fire and tremulous passion, but it also seems like a mixed lot, torn between harsh, atonal expressionism on the one hand, and a diatonic tintinnabular style on the other. Its appeal is perhaps limited, since few listeners will enjoy a work that switches so frequently and inexplicably between these extremes. However, the Lysenko String Quartet manages to make this piece convincing in this committed performance, and the whole album benefits from the ensemble's coherent interpretations, as well as from its cohesiveness and clarity in performance. Et Cetera's sound is fine for most listeners' purposes, though its resonance gives the music an aural halo that sometimes blurs details.