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JANSMUSIC RECOMMENDED RECORDING

Edinburgh String Quartet: Leighton, String Quartets No.1 & 2, & 7 Variations for quartet, Op.45
Meridian CDE 84460

I have bad memories of Leighton, having volunteered to help "stiffen" a local church choir when I was at University - the sort of "3 old women and a dog"-type church choir, that couldn't even have coped with a four-part hymn, let alone Leighton. I hastily abandoned my post (shortly before the conductor did the same) and pushed the Leighton score to the back of my bookshelf, with feelings of disbelief that anyone could write something so unsingable.

OK, so therefore I was pleasantly surprised to discover these quartets, which are absolutely beautiful, and full of incredible deeply-felt pianissimos, as well as passion, drama and some stunning melodic moments.

After my bad experience my knowledge of what Leighton is all about is limited, very, so, tell me something about Leighton.  The notes tell me he was a master of counterpoint, which comes through straightaway.  In the busier movements you get the feeling the musicians have been handed a sheet of key musical phrases and told "go off and sit in a corner and improvise round these phrases", such is the bustling activity, while in the quieter movements there is an wonderful feeling of peace and tranquility, and there are sudden gorgeous solo lines that emerge from the murmuring.

Leighton seems to like working with sound, and working with textures.  He explores the ranges of the different instruments, he juxtaposes passages of big sound and sparse solo textures, he mixes intense chromaticism with searing lyricism.  The third movement of the first quartet is full of energy and lifts you up, up and away, and takes you off into this world of changing colours.  The performers on this recording also seem completely immersed in the music - you feel like they are the ones in control.  My favourite movement has to be the final movement of quartet no.2 which is the antithesis of what most of us would imagine the last moments of a string quartet to be: not punchy, definitive, and ending with a flourish, but quiet, contemplative, drawn out - over 8 minutes of pianissimo that make you feel completely at peace. 

The 7 variations for string quartet were written in memory of the deceased mother of the artist Maurice de Sausmarez and each movement represents a different aspect of grief, from the more passionate, wrenching allegros, to the long drawn out loneliness of the of the adagios. Beautifully written miniatures, these are a fine example of how the 12-note legacy was not just about putting a series of notes together, but writing real music, and enabling composers to find their inspiration.