Vaughan Williams - Phantasy Quintet-String Quartets 1 & 2

Ralph Vaughan Williams

Phantasy Quintet

Sringas Quartets Nos 1 & 2

Maggini Quartet

Laurence Jackson, violin I

David Angel, violin II

Martin Outram, viola

Michal Kaznowski, cello

Garfield Jackson,  viola

The Maggini Quartet, even more responsive than on their previous discs of British music, give revelatory performances of works that too often have been underestimated, regarded as mere diversions from the composer’s regular path. The Magginis find a rare clarity and warmth in both quartets. The First was written soon after Vaughan William’s studies with Ravel in Paris, with obvious echoes not just of Ravel but of the Debussy Quartet. The Second Quartet dates from 1942 to 1943, written in the crucial gap between the lyrical Symphony No. 5 and the abrasive No. 6. Most revelatory of all is the Maggini performance of the Phantasy Quintet of 1912, a masterpiece long neglected, weighty and compressed. A slow prelude as intense as that of a Purcell Fantasy leads to three comparably strong and sharply characterized sections.

Phantasy Quintet

1.   I. Prelude: Lento ma non troppo 00:04:07

2.   II. Scherzo: Prestissimo 00:04:09

3.   III. Alla Sarabanda: Lento 00:02:50

4.   IV. Burlesca: Allegro moderato 00:04:00

    String Quartet No. 1 in G minor

5.   I. Allegro moderato 00:09:15

6.   II. Minuet and Trio: Tempo di minuetto 00:04:48

7.   III. Romance: Andante sostenuto 00:07:35

8.   IV. Finale: Rondo Capriccioso - Allegro molto 00:07:59

    String Quartet No. 2 in A minor

9.   I. Prelude: Allegro appassionato 00:03:52

10.   II. Romance: Largo 00:09:31

11.   III. Scherzo: Allegro 00:03:35

12.   IV. Epilogue: Andante sostenuto 00:04:48