Karl-Erik Welin [1934-1992] was a Swedish composer who wrote nine string quartets between 1967 and 1990. There are four quartets on the CD under discussion, Nos. 1, 6, 7 and 9. They are all one-movement works, each running from 17 to 20 minutes. Having listened to them intensely over the last couple of weeks, I must admit I am having trouble pinning them down stylistically. I keep hearing new ideas each time. I first heard them as seemingly four basically similar pieces. I think I could now sum it up by saying the disc is a contrasting series of slow, moody music, punctuated by very brief interjections of Modernism.
No.1 is of a pastoral nature. It is not the common British pastoralism but has a slightly more European sound, with some great melodic passages. This is a stunning SQ No. 1, and a harbinger of things to come.
No. 6 has an opening reminiscent of Samuel Barber’s famous Adagio in that it is expressed totally as long static blocks of chords, with each instrument holding the same note for the duration of the chord. This is one of the composer’s distinctive stylistic features, reappearing often in the later pieces. No melodic development appears until seven minutes into the piece. This new melodic passage then continues until a brief interjection leads into a gentle abstract section. After another brief crescendo, the melodies return with an interesting atonal harmonic background. The piece softens as it moves inexorably towards a whisper at the conclusion.
No. 7 breaks the mould and opens with a melodic section. Still quiet and sombre, this section is dominated by the cello, for which some wonderful melodies are crafted. Broken up occasionally by brief crescendo passages, the work drifts between the melodic and chordal styles previously mentioned. There is a hint of a middle-eastern melody for me at times, with altered non-scale tones coming to the fore, especially in the crescendos. This introduces a folk-like quality to the piece which becomes more obvious toward the end. The piece ends on a lonely lilting melody, reminiscent of a shepherd boy’s flute.
No. 9 opens in a reflective, introspective mood. There is a quiet abstract nature at work here. This mood is sustained for six minutes before the obligatory crescendo appears. This crescendo is longer than usual but eventually finds its way back to new melodic material. As the movement progresses it takes on a serious nature with the cello becoming prominent. The end finally settles into a poignant mood, reminiscent of the first quartet.
I think it is fair to say that this is the most modern sounding work, slightly dark and with more variation. It may point to a change in the composer’s style. This never occurred as he died at 58, two years after completing SQ No. 9.
These are marvellous works, gently abstract, melodious and introspective; my favourite kind of music. Sometimes they sound like a string orchestra and even bring to mind Morton Feldman’s String Quartet and Orchestra. I would love to hear the unissued quartets just to examine the progression from No. 2 to No. 5.
The disc, performed by The Tale Quartet on the European BIS label, is available quite freely.
This CD is on Spotify, and many quartets are on YouTube. All discussed quartets can be heard on earsense.
Listenability: Pure bliss!
If you would like to be notified by email when I post something new, just send me an email with ‘SQBLOG’ as the subject. 🙂
John, you’re very kind but my “reviews” are mere footnotes to your truly remarkable pieces, I say “truly remarkable” because your writing isn’t like “normal” reviews which are little more than record company sales pitches, what we are lucky to have with you is a person who “truly” (that word again) knows his stuff yet only writes to impart that knowledge to all regardless of either low little or how much they know on the subject. There is no “ego” in your writing, which is a gift for people who want to read for knowledge (and joy). I also like how you can express musical ideas and turn them into what we humans understand as things like “joy”, “sorrow”, “insight”, “grief” and “happiness”. The only negative John is that this blog is very expensive, there is so much I want to buy after reading your reviews, so much music, so little time and so little money!
Thanks, Eric. I liked that a lot. Would you care to write some more reviews? Sometimes I think I could use a hand! 🙂
John, have just received a copy of this disc from Ken who also bought it on the strength of your review. These are seriously good pieces of modern SQ writing. The disc fooled me at first, starting with No. 9 rather than what I would have expected, the No. 1. It is interesting as I can feel the “Nordic” sound, not from other SQs of the time but from other Nordic musicians, most notably, Jon Balke with the “Magnetic North Orchestra” and also his writing with “Oslo 13”, they seem to share a musical palette and language even, something inexplicably Nordic regardless of the music genre.
What I really liked was that this wasn’t another example of 1950’s, 1960’s avant-garde writing where the “soundscape” is all important but he uses that “language” of the early avant-garde to express his thoughts and feelings, the feelings going through a range of emotions, as you say, the “gently abstract, melodious and introspective”, these moments are pure bliss. Yes, it has the crescendoes one expects from pieces written by someone writing in and for this time but also has so much more than just one chromatic colour, it also has gentleness, warmth (don’t be fooled by the “nordic” sound), and a sense of awakening humanity. Great sound on the BIS recording as well, if you like the ECM “sound”, you won’t be disappointed with these SQs. To sum up, a lot deeper than a lot of music written in this period as he uses the “language” as a means to express real feelings. The quartet, “The Tale Quartet” do a tremendous job bringing these quartets to life as well.