Britten: String Quartets No. 3 / Simple Symphony Maggini Quartet & Martin Roscoe

• 1 I. Boisterous Bourree 03:18
• 2 II. Playful Pizzicato 03:16
• 3 III. Sentimental Saraband 07:59
• 4 IV. Frolicsome Finale 02:56
• 5 I. Andante 06:22
• 6 II. Poco adagio ma con moto 06:42
• 7 III. Allegro molto vivace 03:43
• 8 Alla Marcia 03:29
• 9 I. Duets: With Moderate Movement 05:46
• 10 II. Ostinato: Very Fast 03:14
• 11 III. Solo: Very Calm 05:41
• 12 IV. Burlesque: Fast - con fuoco 02:20
• 13 V. Recitative and Passacaglia (La serenissima) 09:47
• Total Runtime 01:04:33

Info for Britten: String Quartets No. 3 / Simple Symphony

This second volume of the Maggini Quartet's Britten series amply fulfils the promise of the first. As before, the recording favours blend and immediacy: the leading full-price alternative, recorded at Snape by the Sorrel Quartet for Chandos, has a richer atmosphere and a stronger sense of space, but, as interpretations, the Maggini's versions need fear nothing from the current competition. The major work here is the late Third Quartet, a score whose extreme contrasts of mood and texture, ranging from rapt serenity to explosive bitterness, are the more difficult to make convincing for the extraordinary economy of means which the ailing Britten summoned. The Maggini are hard to beat in the conviction they bring to all aspects of a notably well-focused, technically polished account. Their choice of basic tempos for the tricky outer movements is ideal, and they relish the elements of parody elsewhere without descending into caricature. This disc also provides the only currently available version of the early but radical Quartettino, and the quartet version of the Simple Symphony.

„This exceptional second volume in the Maggini’s survey of the complete Britten music for string quartet spans the composer’s entire career, from the rarely heard chamber version of the delightful Simple Symphony (based on tunes written when the composer was nine years old), to Britten’s final completed work, the Third Quartet. This last item is a true masterpiece—as sad and poignant a farewell in its way as Mahler’s Ninth. The magnificent finale, a Recitative and Passacaglia composed as a tribute to the city of Venice, haunts the memory long after the last note has died away, and the Maggini Quartet finely balances the movement between the need to press forward and music’s elegiac reluctance to yield up its final goodbye. It may come as a surprise to some that Britten, the great composer of operas and choral works (such as the War Requiem), also is such a master of chamber music’s most daunting medium, but it really shouldn’t. He was a great composer, period.“ (David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com)

'The Maggini's performance is so good that it bears comparison with any of its rivals, and the couplings make it especially attractive. Excellent recordings. Strongly recommended.' (Classic CD)

Maggini Quartet

Maggini Quartet
Formed in 1988, the Maggini Quartet is one of the finest string quartets on the international chamber music circuit, performing at major festivals and concert halls throughout Europe, the United States and the Far East. Renowned for championing British composers, the Quartet won Gramophone Chamber Music CD of the Year 2001 for the String Quartets and Phantasy Quintet of Vaughan Williams (8.555300), part of the Gramophone Award-winning Naxos series that has brought world-wide sales of more than 100,000 discs. The recording of Elgar’s String Quartet and Piano Quintet (8.553737) with Peter Donohoe was a 1997 winner of the Diapason d’Or, France’s most prestigious award for classical music recordings, and the release of the String Quartets and Trio (8.554079) by E. J. Moeran proved to be one of the best-selling chamber music CDs of 1998. The Maggini has also recorded all the Britten String Quartets for Naxos (8.553883 and 8.554360), winning praise from Diapason in France, while the second volume was an Editor’s Choice in Gramophone and in Classic CD. The recording of Walton’s String Quartet and Piano Quartet with Peter Donohoe (8.554646) was nominated for a Gramophone Award, as well as being an Editor’s Choice in Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine, and the CD of Bax Quartets Nos.1 and 2 (8.555282) won a 2002 Cannes Classical Award. The first CD of repertoire by Bliss (8.557108) was nominated for a Grammy Award 2004. Further recording plans include repertoire by Bridge, Rawsthorne, Arnold, John Ireland and Tippett. The Maggini Quartet has won similar praise for other recordings and has commissioned a number of works, including Robert Simpson’s last work, his Cello Quintet, first performed at the Cheltenham International Festival in 1996, a year which also saw the first performance of Olivia by Roxanna Panufnik, commissioned for the Maggini by Brunel University Arts Centre in London. The Maggini’s 10th Anniversary commission was James MacMillan’s Second Quartet, which received its world première at the Wigmore Hall in London in 1998, with subsequent performances in North America and Europe. The Maggini has embarked on an exciting collaboration with Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, performing and recording his ten new Naxos Quartets. The Wigmore is hosting performances of all ten works, including six world premières. Commissioned by Naxos, the works fulfil the composer’s long-held intention of bringing a major contribution to chamber music repertoire, and the project is providing a unique opportunity for performers and composer to work together over a five-year period. The first CD of Naxos Quartets Nos 1 and 2 (8.557396) was an Editor’s Choice in Gramophone. The Quartet takes its name from the famous sixteenth-century Brescian violin-maker Giovanni Paolo Maggini, an example of whose work is played by David Angel. .

Martin Roscoe
The British pianist Martin Roscoe performs as a concerto soloist, recitalist and chamber musician all over the world. As a concerto soloist, he has worked with Sir Simon Rattle, James MacMillan, Kent Nagano, and Yan Pascal Tortelier, among others. He has performed with all the major British orchestras, keeping especially strong links with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra with which he has appeared on more than ninety occasions. A close relationship with the BBC has led to over four hundred broadcasts on Radio 3 and invitations to perform at the BBC Proms on six occasions. As a chamber musician he has appeared with many leading British musicians including Tasmin Little, Michael Collins, Steven Isserlis, Peter Donohoe and Emma Johnson. For Naxos Martin Roscoe has recorded fours discs of the piano music of Karol Szymanowski, and has recorded widely for a number of leading companies. He was a professor of piano at the Royal Academy of Music for six years (now holding an Honorary Associateship) and was also Head of Keyboard at the Royal Northern College of Music. He is the Artistic Director of the Beverley Chamber Music Festival, and also initiated and directs the Ribble Valley International Piano Week.

Booklet for Britten: String Quartets No. 3 / Simple Symphony