Search - Benjamin Frankel, Nomos Quartett :: Benjamin Frankel: Complete String Quartets

A truly GREAT cycle of quartets

Evan Wilson | Cambridge, MA | 09/08/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you've never heard of Benjamin Frankel, you're probably not alone. I tripped across his Clarinet Quintet on a disc I bought for another work and was immediately captivated. This set of quartets indicates that he is a major composer who sorely needs rediscovery.Frankel's musical language contains elements of Bergian chromaticism and English pastoralism (an odd combination), but it doesn't really sound like Berg or Vaughan Williams. Instead, it has a fascinating quality of morphing back and forth between terse chromatic tension and mellifluous serenity. This is 20th century music, make no mistake, but it isn't unapproachable.The Gramophone review is absolutely accurate in describing them as extraordinarily eventful. But they aren't merely a collection of cheap effects. Unlike say the Bartok quartets, where human emotion often gets buried under a sophisticated technique, Frankel's quartets speak as much to the spirit as to the mind. They certainly aren't as overtly emotional as Shostakovich, but it's impossible not to be touched when glorious polyphony suddenly bursts out amid grim, slashing figures. Another appealing quality to these pieces is their brevity. The longest quartet is 22 minutes, and most of the movements are less than 5 minutes long. As a result, the ear doesn't fatigue the way it can with dense chromatic pieces like Schoenberg's First Quartet, for instance. Frankel has tough things to say, but he says them with a spareness of utterance which gets to the point.The playing of the Nomos Quartet has an edgy quality in the harsher parts which makes the sudden rays of sunshine in the music even more appealing. They certainly play with enthusiasm and the sound is up to CPO's high standards. With only 90 minutes of music spread over 2 discs, it would have been nice if CPO could have found more chamber music by Frankel to include, but don't let that stop you. These are wonderful quartets that do not pale next to the masterpieces of Bartok, Shostakovich, Hindemith and Martinu."