Tippett Quartet: Glazunov

The Strad Issue: June 2026

Description: An auspicious start for a Romantic Russian quartet cycle

Musicians: Tippett Quartet

Works: Glazunov: Complete String Quartets vol.1: no.1 in D major, no.2 in F major, no.3 in G major ‘Slavonic’

Catalogue number: NAXOS 8574716

Surely it is a curious thing that the seven string quartets of Alexander Glazunov are not more frequently championed – they are such attractively melodic, impeccably crafted works. Yet the Tippett Quartet’s new cycle is entering a near-empty field – albeit with such aplomb that this doesn’t much matter.

Volume One gives us the first three: no.1 (composed 1881–2), won its teenage composer the Glinka Prize; no.2 dates from 1884, the year he first toured Western Europe, notably meeting Liszt; the third (the ‘Slavonic’) emerged a movement at a time between 1886 and 1888, at musical soirées held by his patron, Mitrofan Belyayev.

All are radiant, genial works, qualities that shine through the Tippett’s songful impetus and tonally bright melding of sweetness and earthiness. The recording itself – in St George’s Headstone, Harrow – is also nicely immediate. The only time this all combines into something a little hard-edged is at the peak of the climax of no.2’s Adagio molto. Otherwise, there’s a lot to admire; listen, for instance, to the way the musicians exude heady, joyful exuberance in the cumulative lines of no.2’s Scherzo, or to the wide-ranging colours and dynamics they find for the folky ‘Une fête slave’ finale of no.3. Another highlight is the impeccable tonal blend in the unison writing in the middle of no.3’s opening Moderato. Roll on Volume Two!

Charlotte Gardner