Atterberg: String Quartets

 

The opening of Kurt Atterberg's String Quartet no. 2 in B minor begins its first movement in an active and unsettled manner, quite different from most of the composer's other works. I love the pizzicato Atterberg adds to the texture, an effect which is continued into the connected second movement, another area of the string quartet with a rather impatient, pacing emotional quality, one which is internalized comparatively to the beginning of the work.

Big ensemble gestures greet the beginning of the third movement, another with no lack of gloom. Atterberg bandies this idea with a more dance-like quality, although it comes with a nervy, nightmarish quality rather than anything which is feel good or carefree. In this way, plus with the continuous movements without break, Atterberg creates a satisfying and intelligent whole.

String Quartet no. 3 in D Major is an odd amalgam of an earlier discarded quartet alongside later original material. Apparently, Atterberg was dissatisfied with his second and third movements of his Third String Quartet, tossed them out, and replaced them with portions of his banished First String Quartet. Thus, we get both an Op. 2 and an Op. 39 attached to the work. 

While many comment the early music melds well with the later material, I find the later-dated outer movements much more secure, confident, and characterful, while the earlier inner movements are a little generic and understated to my ears. That said, the initial second-movement Scherzo is pleasantly moody and skitterish, yet overlong, of which, the latter qualification could be leveled at the third movement as well, even if those crazy glissandos in the middle of the movement are a most interesting choice on the part of the composer. The fourth movement is a satisfying galop to the end.

Since the two Atterberg string quartets only add up to about 45 minutes or so of music, the Stenhammar Quartet adds the lone String Quartet in G minor from Swedish composer Ture Rangström. Rangström was a contemporary who was much more willing to embrace modernism compared to the unabashedly Neo-Romantic Atterberg. Still, Rangström's music is not difficult to take in, thus his brand of modernism marries well with tonality.

Cast in a thirteen-minute single movement, Rangström's String Quartet is rather acidic sounding, with an angular theme that is thrust at the listener throughout the runtime. The central episode contains a gentle mixed-meter dance, giving more structural form to the one-movement work. 

Rangström doesn't go crazy with modern string effects either, playing it rather straightforward with a couple of pizzicatos and harmonics for color. Maybe not a new masterpiece, yet a fine program of 20th-Century Swedish string quartets nonetheless.

Really, listeners will not find these quartets recorded elsewhere, so it is good to have the Stenhammar Quartet on hand, players who can relish the Romanticism alongside the 20th-Century modernity. So too, the CPO sonics are close and satisfying. If there is a detriment, it is the overly sniffy first violin in Atterberg's Second String Quartet, which seems to lessen in the later Atterberg and Rangström quartets. Perhaps his colleagues or recording engineers had a word with him.

 

Works
Kurt Atterberg
   String Quartet 2, op. 11 (18.24)
   String Quartet 3, op. 2 & 39 (30.05)

Ture Rangström
   String Quartet (13.22)

Performers
Stenhammar Quartet
   Peter Olofsson, violin
   Per Öman, violin
   Tony Bauer, viola
   Mats Olofsson, cello

Label: CPO
Year: 2014
Total Timing: 61.56

Where I wasn't as taken with Atterberg's concertos in general, his string quartets are a lovely surprise, particularly his solid Second.

As a bit of contrast, Rangström's single quartet is a nice contrast to Atterberg's lush Romanticism, with a modern edgy quality.

Find more Atterberg recordings HERE!