Further Quartet Adventures with Saint-Georges

Some readers may recall that, this past February as part of the Uncovered concert series that the Catalyst Quartet prepared for San Francisco Performances, the ensemble played two of the string quartets from the collection of six published by the Chevalier de Saint-Georges. The report of that performance provided key biographical background, including the composer’s mixed-race parentage and his reputation as a prodigious polymath in eighteenth-century France. What it did not mention was that this collection was Saint-Georges’ Opus 1, published in 1773. It was followed by two further sets of six quartets, one published in 1779 without and opus number, and the Opus 14 collection published in 1785.

Arabella String Quartet members Alexandre Lecarme, Sarita Kwok, Julie Eskar, and Ettore Causa (from the booklet for the recording being discussed, courtesy of Naxos of America)

This coming Friday Naxos will release an album of the six 1779 quartets. The performances are by the Arabella String Quartet, whose members are violinists Julie Eskar and Sarita Kwok (alternating in first and second chair positions), violist Ettore Causa, and cellist Alexandre Lecarme. All tracks were recorded at the Fraser Performance Studio of WGBH in Boston. For some (not necessarily unexpected) reason, Amazon.com is not yet aware of this release. However, those interested in pre-ordering will be able to do so through a Barnes & Noble product page, which is probably the best option for delivery from a source in the United States.

Like the quartets that Catalyst played, all six of the quartets on this album consist of two movements. Only one of the quartets, the second in G minor, does not begin with an Allegro movement. The opening movement is an Adagio, and it is followed by an Aria andantino. This is also the only quartet in the set in a minor key.

Brevity pervades the entire collection. The opening movement of the final quartet is the longest, about fifteen seconds short of seven minutes. Ironically, it is followed by the only theme-and-variations movement in the set. That movement is slightly longer than three minutes, meaning that the variations are significantly few in number!

Nevertheless, the Arabella players know how to endow even the briefest of the movements with engaging expressiveness. Presumably, Saint-Georges wanted to please his fellow nobles. This probably meant making it a point not to strain their modest attention spans! However, if the quartets on this album did not necessarily rise to heights of sophistication, the thematic diversity of the individual selections are still likely to appeal.