When American classical music lovers think of twentieth century English music, what composers do they think of?
Elgar? Certainly. Holst? Surely.
Vaughan Williams? Probably.
Britten? Possibly.
Walton? Maybe.
Arnold? Unlikely. Alwyn? Less likely. And Alan Rawsthorne? Highly unlikely. Why? Because Rawsthorne's music is rarely performed and recorded. Why? Because Rawsthorne might be best characterized as a less interesting
Hindemith. The same lean, linear textures, the same astringent tonal harmonies, the same close attention to detail and design -- these qualities are no less present in Rawsthorne's music than they are in
Hindemith's, but more in the manner of the less extravagant and more circumspect later
Hindemith than the less restrained and more interesting earlier
Hindemith.
In this 2006 Naxos recording by the England's
Maggini Quartet, Rawsthorne's three string quartets are given more than convincing if less than compelling performances. The
Maggini is as clearly up to the music's technical requirements as it is up for its expressive demands. In works coming from 1939, 1954, and 1965, the
Maggini adopts admirably to Rawsthorne's slow evolution from the edgy First to the nervous Second to the anxious Third. But if the performances succeed in convincing the listener of the music's intelligence and integrity, they still fail in compelling any attention. One gets the sense of listening to an earnest argument between four extremely articulate individuals on a profoundly abstruse topic; and, unfortunately, sooner or later, with the best will in the world, each of Rawsthorne's quartet's grows tiresome. Naxos' sound is too close, but very vivid.