Bryars - String Quartet nr. 1 & 2

I'm not sure what kind of composer Gavin Bryars really is. Earlier I have written about his Piano Concerto, which I found rather flaccid and uninspired. I also have his famous Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet, an early conceptual piece from 1971 (featuring Tom Waits). But I don't think that I have listened to this more than three times.  Arguably these two pieces form only the tip of the iceberg that is a vast and very eclectic body of work, including music for voice, for the theater and for a wide variety of ensembles. However, the album that keeps Bryars for me in considerable standing is a 1995 recording of his two string quartets on the Argo label (now deleted).

I have listened to these two quartets oftentimes. Usually, I take them back to back. The Second Quartet (1990) seems to pick up where the First ('Between the National and the Bristol') leaves off. There are several commonalities between the pieces which renders their fusion in a 45-minute whole a plausible listening strategy. Both pieces are of almost equal duration (21:55 for the First, 23:46 for the Second). It feels like they are based on a shared compositional philosophy. Bryars seems to be a minimalist in a similar vein as Riley: his best music is 'simple', in a sophisticated kind of way. If the musical process is guided in any way by thematic development, I can't really hear it. The logic is much more narratively oriented, as a succession of clearly demarcated sections of 3 to 7 minutes' length (but in contrast to Riley's Salome, for instance, we don't know the story behind the quartets; also Bryars' suggestive titles for many of his works seem to confirm this narrative bent). Also the mood of both quartets overlaps: they are lyrical, faintly elegiac in tone. I don't think there is a fff anywhere to be heard. Tempos are slow to moderato. The texture is very often composed of two layers of which one consists of long, flowing lines with a gently lapping or more agressively pulsating layer underneath. Also important in both works is the use of harmonics, lending the music often an eery, silvery quality and trailing rustic, faintly Eastern European resonances in their wake. Given all these qualities, is it a surprise then that I'm invariably reminded of Milan Kundera's novels when I listen to these quartets?

I believe the superb rendition of these scores by the Balanescu Quartet is absolutely key here. This is the kind of music that in lesser hands simply falls apart. The Balanescu play these quartets with the most sincere conviction and supreme artistry, saving them from slipping into bathos. It's a pity we don't hear a lot anymore from this ensemble. It's rather more a fluid group of musicians around the pivotal figure of Alexander Balanescu (ex second violinist of the Arditti, ex leader of the Michael Nyman Band). (I have another excellent disc of them, with two superb quartets by Kevin Volans. I'll return to that very soon.) On the Bryars CD I would also like to single out the very sensitive playing by cellist Sian Bell (a principal with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra these days).