STRENGTH IN DIFFERENCE

The members of the Chiaroscuro Quartet speak to Toby Deller about how they combined detailed preparation while retaining a sense of spontaneity when recording Mozart’s ‘Prussian’ Quartets

T hatthe musicians of the Chiaroscuro Quartet play with classical bows on gut strings and use a historical approach in their work together is no secret. ‘But sometimes it’s actually better not to know,’ says cellist Claire Thirion. Seeing things through a historical lens is, it turns out, far from their primary motivation. ‘I think our main thing is sound, contrast and the message,’ explains first violinist Alina Ibragimova. ‘Every note has to have a message and anything we do stylistically is to help with that message. So we don’t do rules. Everything is done for an expressive reason – there’s no dynamic marking, no little dot on a note that doesn’t have an emotional reason behind it.’

The members of the quartet are in good spirits when we meet in a London hotel lobby, a year after the sessions themselves, to talk about their recording of Mozart’s ‘Prussian’ Quartets K575, K589 and K590, the last three string quartets the composer wrote in his short life. At various points in the conversation, little plates of food arrive which the quartet have ordered, meaning we talk more about broccoli than is usual in a discussion about Mozart, and agree on the virtues of the vegetable. ‘Coming from different countries,’ says Thirion, ‘we have so much to say about food. And we all love cooking, wherever we are.’

Thirion is the French representative of the quartet, alongside Russian-born Ibragimova, Spanish violinist Pablo Hernán Benedí and Swedish violist Emilie Hörnlund. Although they have varied individual careers elsewhere, they typically spend around a hundred days a year together as a quartet. Thirion describes their relationship as ‘family – we are like siblings’, or as Benedí puts it: ‘We are very different people but we match each other amazingly as well, although inevitably there are things that we see differently and feel differently.’

EVA VERMANDEL

‘THERE’S NO DYNAMIC MARKING, NO LITTLE DOT ON A NOTE THAT DOESN’T HAVE AN EMOTIONAL REASON BEHIND IT’

The sessions took place at Snape Maltings in November 2020 during an ultimately temporary relaxation of Covid-19 precautions in the UK. ‘It was a very intense time,’ recalls Benedí. ‘The restrictions were still massive. The Aldeburgh site was empty. It was just us and producer Andrew Keener.’ But it was important to the group that they overcame all the planning obstacles and persevered. ‘For us, recording is such a big part of our planning and our career,’ he points out. ‘What was unusual was not having had the usual warm-up to allow the pieces to be with us on the stage.’ What run-in they had had amounted to a handful of concerts in Norwich and York, without a live audience, in the days preceding the recording.

What is more, Mozart has featured relatively little on their concert programmes in recent years while they have focused more on the Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert works which have featured on their releases in that time. The musicians agree that even in these three quartets, which are generally well behaved, a mischievousness sometimes breaks out – in the Trio of the B flat major quartet (K589), for example, or the finale of the third of the set. Hörnlund remarks that the technical challenges throughout the parts mark out these quartets as being late Mozart, while for Thirion, it is the long, almost operatic phrases given to the cello part, which often leapfrogs the other parts, that are so distinctive of the set. ‘Somehow the viola has to make the bass-line a lot of the time. In Haydn, yes, there are some little tunes, but the cello very much has its role as harmony and bass. In Mozart the roles in the quartet change.’

The Chiaroscuro Quartet: Alina Ibragimova, Pablo Hernán Benedí, Claire Thirion and Emilie Hörnlund at Snape Maltings

OSCAR TORRES

‘WE TRY TO DO VERY LONG TAKES BECAUSE I CAN TRULY SAY WE NEVER PLAY THE SAME WAY TWICE’

As it happens, swapping parts was one of the rehearsal techniques the quartet used in their early days together when reuniting after time apart. ‘I still want to do it!’ admits Thirion. ‘All the problems of not being together or not playing in tune come from lack of empathy.’ The aim is to allow for the possibility of creative unpredictability in performance. ‘We like to surprise ourselves – alot,’ she adds. ‘We tease each other very much with our playing – even in Mozart.’ Benedí continues: ‘But even in the teasing (which for us is essential), the fine, detailed rhetorical aspect of each composer is there. The more we play, the more that grows.’ As a consequence, he says, the players end up building up a very clear idea of the musical character of whatever repertoire they are immersing themselves in. ‘And, of course,’ he goes on, ‘this will affect the blending, the sound, the expression, the type of nuances that we look for.’

That love of spontaneity holds true in recordings too. ‘Unfortunately for Andrew!’ jokes Thirion, recognising that this will create difficult choices in the final edit. ‘We try to do very long takes because I can truly say we never play the same way twice – in terms of tempo, everything – so it is particularly hard for him to make decisions when editing. He’s incredibly good and knows us very well, but it’s very challenging.’ ‘But I think he has fun with that,’ adds Ibragimova, who shares her colleagues’ admiration for his contribution, not only musically but in how he manages their dynamic.

‘What’s interesting is that sometimes when we do our first run,’ explains Benedí, ‘we might have a really clear idea of our tempo and approach. Then we listen back, and one comment or one look from Andrew can change the shape of a whole movement and the second take is nothing like the first.’ But, he reiterates, ‘I don’t think any of us strives for an ultimate version or a definitive version.’ Hörnlund adds: ‘In a way, once you’ve recorded something, it’s already in the past.’ All you can do is play it again, I suggest. ‘Yes,’ replies Benedí, ‘and hopefully not in a similar way!’

WORKS Mozart ‘Prussian’ String Quartets: in D major K575, in B flat major K589, in F major K590