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CDA66936
Superseded by CDH55174

Recording details: October 1996
St Michael's Church, Highgate, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Martin Compton
Engineered by Antony Howell & Julian Millard
Release date: May 1997
Total duration: 79 minutes 6 seconds

'Performances throughout are shapely and sensitive, the production is refined and the balance truthful. Fans of this colourful figure should acquire forthwith' (Gramophone)

'There is some gorgeous music here. All these works contain a fund of attractive melody. Music as directly appealing as this warrants a place in any collection of British music' (Fanfare, USA)

Rutland Boughton (1878-1960)
String Quartets & Oboe Quartet No. 1
Sarah Francis (oboe), The Rasumovsky Quartet
LISTEN TO ALL EXTRACTS
String Quartet in F major 'From the Welsh Hills'
1
Movement 1: Landscape from the valleys  [7'17]
2
Movement 2: Landscape from the hilltops  [7'48]
3
Movement 3: Satire (Conversation)  [3'16]
4
Movement 4: Song of the Hills  [9'18]
Oboe Quartet No 1
5
Movement 1: Allegro vivace  [4'57]
6
Movement 2: Allegro giocoso  [1'42]
7
Movement 3: Andante con variazione  [8'20]
String Quartet in A major 'On Greek Folk Songs'
8
Movement 1: Apollonian  [7'49]
9
Movement 2: Dionysian  [4'16]
10
Movement 3: Threnody  [7'28]
11
Movement 4: Aphrodisian  [7'48]
Three Songs without Words for oboe quartet
12
No 1: Whence! Andante delicato  [2'27]
13
No 2: Faery Flout. Allegro giocoso  [1'49]
14
No 3: Barcarolle. Andante languido  [4'51]
Although Rutland Boughton is rightly admired as an operatic composer, he contributed generously to virtually every musical genre from symphony to song. The two string quartets were written at the height of his popularity in 1923 and are works of much charm. The descriptive titles, of the individual movements as well as of the quartets themselves, do not so much present a 'programme' as suggest, in Boughton's words, 'the emotional pleasure one has in natural beauty of a certain kind'. The quartets were first performed at The Aeolian Hall, the advertisement stating that the concerts were 'not for high-brows, but for the general musical public who still believe in the common-chord and an occasional tune'. In many ways the Songs without Words can be regarded as a second oboe quartet and are charming miniatures. Boughton had a particular love for the oboe (his daughter Joy was the instrument's leading exponent in England at the time) and this is reflected in his compositions.