A quick glance at classical best-seller charts is enough to confirm that listeners' habits are much more diverse than they were even at the last turn of the century. Consider this 2022 release by the
Villiers Quartet, which hit the charts in the fall of 2022. Its main selling point is the presence of the complete String Quartet in C minor written in 1888 by Frederick Delius, two movements of which were only recently rediscovered in an auction lot; the
Villiers Quartet gave the work its premiere in a livestream during the COVID-19 pandemic, and this is its first recording. Delius spent a year and a half managing an orange plantation in Florida in the mid-1880s, and the African American influence on his early music has often been noted in a general way. Here, it is especially clear; sample the first movement and its tonal inventory. It would be fascinating to program this quartet with one of
Dvořák's late chamber works, for the two composers share an inspiration but create music of entirely different effect. However, the pairing here, with the String Quartet in E minor, Op. 1, of 1912 by Ethel Smyth, is effective as well. There is a hint of
Dvořák here as well in the vigorous finale, mixing jaunty rhythms with contrapuntal rigor, but really, Smyth's style is all her own, and she ranks among the great successes in the wave of rediscovery of music by women. The
Villiers Quartet may at times sacrifice a bit of intonational accuracy on the altar of enthusiasm, but the fact is that this album is a great deal of fun for anyone at all, is essential for Delius buffs, and brings to light music that has been almost forgotten. ~ James Manheim