NZ String Quartet play Szekely and Dvorak

By WILLIAM DART


The New Zealand String Quartet had a unique association with Zoltan Szekely and it shows in the group's enthusiastic new recording of the Hungarian composer's 1937 Quartet.

Szekely, who died in 2001 at the age of 97, was a noted violinist and a member of the Hungarian Quartet.

He was also a close associate of Bela Bartok, who dedicated his Second Violin Concerto to the younger man.

It was Szekely who coached the NZSQ when they were preparing their cycle of Bartok Quartets in 1995.

Somewhere along the way, the musicians discovered the manuscript of this quartet and were given three years' exclusive rights to perform and record it.

Szekely's idiom won't surprise if you are a Bartok enthusiast, and hardcore Bartokians might find it a tad derivative. Compositionally, its language is much more direct, but the NZSQ turn that into a virtue, particularly in the swerving textures of the opening Moderato ma non troppo.

The Andante sostenuto (at six minutes 44 seconds, the second-longest of the eight movements) is the spiritual core of the work, with the players at their most expressive. At the other end of the time scale, the 46-second Presto grazioso is a dragonfly of a dance, fluttering away with edgy delicacy over a cello drone.

Although there are moments in the Bartokian Finale where tiredness impacts on intonation, this is spirited stuff and a first-rate account of a work that you will not find elsewhere.

Dvorak's sunny E flat Quartet of Opus 51 is a civilised companion piece. Commissioned to capitalise on the composer's popular folkish style, it features a tune-on-the-sleeve Dumky as its second movement and a Finale that manages to reconcile Bohemian hoedown with elegant rondo.

The NZSQ penetrate right to the heart of this work, and producer Wayne Laird has achieved wonders in balancing tonal depth with a detail of line that can sometimes be almost distractingly vivid.

My few misgivings mainly in the intonation department are minor. This is a fine addition to the group's already impressive catalogue and a release nicely timed for the gift-giving season.

* New Zealand String Quartet play Szekely and Dvorak (Atoll ACD 703)