Phantasy

The Maggini Quartet, even more responsive than on their previous discs of British music, give revelatory performances of works that too often have been underestimated, regarded as mere diversions from the composer’s regular path. The Magginis find a rare clarity and warmth in both quartets. The First was written soon after Vaughan William’s studies with Ravel in Paris, with obvious echoes not just of Ravel but of the Debussy Quartet. The Second Quartet dates from 1942 to 1943, written in the crucial gap between the lyrical Symphony No. 5 and the abrasive No. 6. Most revelatory of all is the Maggini performance of the Phantasy Quintet of 1912, a masterpiece long neglected, weighty and compressed.

While she made her much-lauded ECM debut with a thought-provoking account of Schumann’s violin sonatas last year, German violinist Carolin Widmann’s reputation as a pioneering interpreter of contemporary music is spreading continiously. “The new record brings me back to my roots”, says Widmann. Teaming up with Simon Lepper, one of Britain’s foremost lied accompanists and a particularly fine chamber musician, she now presents a most varied spectrum of 20th century duo literature. “For more than a year we worked on the repertoire selection.