Essential Cherubini Music

 

What wonderful playing from the Melos Quartet!

I outline what I like from these performances in my review below, but I can't understate how involved they are in this music.

As far as the music, I prefer Cherubini's early quartets over the later ones. I find his invention striking in those early ones.

That isn't a problem, but I simply enjoy hearing the joy of Cherubini's exploration and discovery in 1 & 2. In general, he seems a composer in need of a more definitive musical personality sometimes, but here it is very evident his love of music making.

Yet, throughout the set, Cherubini's fingerprint is evident. The composer rarely treats the second movement as a romance or song; instead it is a vehicle for dramatic buildup, and each are an unusual moment. His third movement scherzos are all fun; in Quartet 4, he teases the listener with a Scherzo, but stops and ends up with a slow dance instead, never to return to the first few measures. Listen to the baffling chromaticism in the opening of the 5th Quartet (just a few measures in); Cherubini loves exploring far off keys, and it is a delight each time.

I sense the Melos are not quite as vital with the minor-keyed Quartets, nos. 3 & 6. To my ears, they play up the gentrified elegance more than I would like.

Regardless, I love the full, intense sound here from the Melos Quartet. As far as I can tell, Brilliant Classics doesn't make any attempt to remaster, which it could have used, but rather a straight reissue. A definitive set, I think.

A review from 2024

While Cherubini was never a tunesmith compared to many of his composer contemporaries, he was adept with textures and harmonic movement, all here to see in his String Quartets. I also sense an abundant joy of composing which I don’t hear in many of his other works.

 

This aspect is ably brought out by the Melos Quartet, who are animated, yet full in their sound and deep in their expression. Check the last movement of the first quartet, where they careen dangerously towards the finale, or the scherzo of the third quartet which is almost ghostly in style, and still yet the second movement of the fifth quartet is achingly portrayed with love.


Theses Melos Quartet performances from the mid-70s really give Cherubini’s works their all, leaping at the music with the freshness of discovery. I like the ample, virile playing from this German quartet; not too dainty or thin as the Savinio Quartet, yet not overdone in the vibrato area. Nor are they as remotely uninvolved as the HausMusik London, and still, not overly thickset in texture either. The sonics, carried over from DG to these Brilliant Classics reissues, can be slightly garish on the treble side, but generally right themselves as they move on through the decade.

 Listen on YouTube

 

 

Works
String Quartet 1 (29.15)
String Quartet 2 (26.51)
String Quartet 3 (29.17)
String Quartet 4 (30.49)
String Quartet 5 (24.35)
String Quartet 6 (25.54)

Performers
Melos Quartet

Label: Brilliant Classics
Year: 1973-75 / 2010
Total Timing: 2.46.41

 

 

An essential set of string quartets from Cherubini.

I daresay, this is Cherubini at his most alive musically, so an essential set of Cherubini music as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Find more Cherubini recordings HERE!