Emperor Quartet - Britten: Simple Symphony, String Quartet in F, Rhapsody, Phantasy, Quartettino (2014)

This release follows on from two earlier Britten discs by the Emperor Quartet on BIS (A/10, 12/13), which together comprise the composer’s complete works for string quartet. With the three mature quartets having already appeared, the final volume turns to youthful works, all composed between 1928 and 1934, though it is no less interesting for that. An obvious attraction is the popular Simple Symphony, making a rare appearance performed by solo strings (though the Britten and Maggini Quartets have recorded it in the past). With the Emperor Quartet’s quick reactions, the piece takes on a new guise in this intimate form, at once spikily alive in the outer movements and confiding of private secrets at the heart of the ‘Sentimental Saraband’.
Each of the other items is worth investigating. The heartfelt Rhapsody, written by the 15-year-old Britten in his school sanatorium, is remarkably skilful in its Ravel-tinted language, much more than a youthful curiosity. The Quartettino comprises three succinct genre pieces, very much in the early Britten idiom. The Phantasy in F minor for string quintet, not related to the one with oboe, is fluent beyond the composer’s years, embracing varied moods and colours (John Metcalfe as second viola). Although the String Quartet in F is more jejune, its youthful exuberance keeps it bubbling along. All these other works have been recorded by the Endellion Quartet, originally for EMI, also included on disc 58 of Decca’s ‘Britten: The Complete Works’. Sometimes the Emperor Quartet’s warmth of expression seems preferable, sometimes the Endellion’s liveliness. Either way, these youthful pieces repay one’s attention.