Belcea Quartet: Debussy, Szymanowski

The Strad Issue: December 2025

Description: Plenty of subtlety from a revered group in a refreshed line-up

Musicians: Belcea Quartet

Works: Debussy: String Quartet. Szymanowski: String quartets: no.1 in C major, no.2

Catalogue number: ALPHA CLASSICS ALPHA1074

The Belcea Quartet was only six years old when it first recorded Debussy’s String Quartet for EMI’s Debut series in 2000. Twenty-five years later, with leader Corina Belcea and violist Krzysztof Chorzelski still remaining from the original line-up, it is one of the UK’s most esteemed quartets.

Unsurprisingly, its take on the Debussy has moved on too. Now, there’s less of an emphasis on cleanly defined lines and stark clarity. The edges are softened, the approach more lyrical – more Romantic even. What we lose in cool definition and forward propulsion, we gain in subtle elasticity and a broader palette of colouristic expression. The difference is especially clear in the third movement – taken at a slower pace, with a more intimate and vulnerable (muted) tone. The added immediacy of the recording also allows a closer engagement with the added richness.

Szymanowski’s two string quartets feature two different second violinists – since Axel Schacher (in no.1) was succeeded by Suyeon Kang in 2023. The two pieces, written a decade apart, are a vivid showcase not only for the Belcea’s dynamism and cohesion but also for its free-ranging collective imagination, whether teasing out finely wrought counterpoint and florid Impressionism in the First Quartet or digging into the more modernistic, folk-influenced – sometimes aggressive – elements of the Second.

EDWARD BHESANIA