Maconchy - String Quartet nr. 3

Another fantastic discovery, it seems! Yesterday I received an order from Amazon.co.uk including a complete set of Elizabeth Maconchy's string quartets. I had never heard a note of this composer. But her name was not unfamiliar. I must have come across it when I was still a regular reader of Gramophone magazine. Anyway, during my Bartok explorations I happened to follow an internet trail that in passing alerted me to the quality of these quartets. They simmered a little bit on my wish list. But as the set is available for the modest sum of 10 pounds, there was little point in waiting. As they arrived I wanted to sample a short work and chose the one-movement Third Quartet (1938). It's barely ten minutes long, but from the first bars onward - as it throws that soaring, richly harmonized theme in your face - I was captivated. What a great piece of music! It sounds astonishingly self-assured and mature (Maconchy was only 31 when she wrote it), combining unabashed lyricism with a sinewy kind of counterpoint. Likely it does not have the gravitas of late Beethoven and Shostakovich or the expressive range of mature Bartok. But despite its brief timespan it is an eminently satisfying listening experience.What it reminded me - qua atmosphere - perhaps most of is that wonderful disc by the Balanescu Quartet dedicated to Gavin Bryars' two string quartets (Argo, still available via Amazon third party sellers). But the Maconchy piece likely compares favourably in terms of discipline and organisation of the musical material.

I really want to get back to listening Bartok and I will. But discoveries such as the Petrassi Concertos, the Hartmann symphonies and the Maconchy quartets keep me in an orbit some distance away. But I'm certainly not complaining ...