Nash Ensemble: Ravel

The Strad Issue: February 2026

Description: In a crowded arena, reliability isn’t always enough

Musicians: Nash Ensemble

Works: Ravel: String Quartet; Piano Trio; Introduction and Allegro; La valse (two-piano version)

Catalogue number: ONYX ONYX4270

This release comes is dedicated to the memory of Amelia Freedman, the Nash Ensemble’s founder and artistic director for six decades, who died last year. There’s an extent to which the fairly characterless acoustic detracts from the presentation but it’s also true that, especially in the Piano Trio, the players could find an extra pinch of tonal colour, atmosphere and character.

In the Introduction and Allegro there’s room for more languor and a sprinkling of fairy-dust though the hushed, muted arco/pizzicato playing in the ‘Un peu plus lent’ section sways with rapt intimacy. For me, the Piano Trio is upset by too much rhythmic variation. Some will hear expressiveness, but it comes at the expense of a more steely, frozen beauty. The shifts of dynamic and colouring could also be more mercurial.

The climax of the ‘Pantoum’ movement narrowly avoids straying into noise and at the end of the finale, a stray cello resonance briefly outstays its welcome. In the end, these are, admittedly, micro-criticisms of what is a very solid performance.

In light of the above, the String Quartet’s pizzicato-driven second movement is thankfully crisp and there’s more to enjoy elsewhere in this piece in terms both of organic cohesion and inner precision. The finale is both vigorous and controlled.

EDWARD BHESANIA