Elgar: String Quartet; Piano Quartet; Piano Pieces

Piers Lane (piano), Goldner String Quartet Hyperion CDA 67857 ****

Elgar was over 60 when, at the end of the first World War, he first turned seriously to chamber music, producing a Violin Sonata, a String Quartet and a Piano Quintet. The quartet and quintet recorded here are more spare than you might expect, and often elusive. There’s an ambivalence to much of the writing, which the Goldner Quartet bring out, eschewing the post-Brahmsian lyric warmth that’s there for the seeking and downplaying suggestions of Elgarian grandeur. The composer knew he wasn’t breaking any new ground, but by keeping the temperature cool, Piers Lane and the Goldners often make the music sound more of the 20th century than usual, especially in the the wide- gapped melody and apparently off-topic interjections at the start of the quintet. The four short piano pieces are altogether more sentimental. See url.ie/4qdb