Timid Ligeti

I was excited when I first saw this release. But I quickly became concerned that perhaps the Verona Quartet wasn’t quite ready to tackle Ligeti. Based on their 2 previous CDs, I hear them as a very accomplished string quartet, somewhat confined within the boundaries of traditional good taste and ultimate refinement. And I just wasn’t sure that was going to work in Ligeti. And listening to this new recording, I was disheartened to hear them prove me right. They just don’t exhibit the audacious temperament for this music and safely take a civilized approach to it. Perhaps they deliberately set out to make it so affable that everyone will suddenly like Ligeti! But for those of us who love Ligeti, this just won’t do.
 
The First sounds so well-mannered it loses even its Bartok element, let alone its forward-looking innovation portending where Ligeti would eventually go. Dynamics and characterization are the primary problems. The sudden contrasts of dynamic extremes are softened and I miss real bite and muscle to bowing. And the many varied sections in the piece are not strongly characterized enough. 
 
The Second suffers similarly, and there isn’t even a gain in the necessary atmosphere which is essential to any success it could achieve as a performance. It doesn’t exhibit the otherworldly, cosmic soundworld that it must. They play all the notes but without fascination or astonishment.
 
I know I’m being critical. But these Quartets absolutely must be startling. Shocking even. Or at the very minimum, awesome. And they aren’t in these readings. They’re meticulously played, but sound careful, matter of fact and benign.
 
As an afterthought, the Andante and Allegretto is appended at the end for no apparent reason. It comes as an unwelcome intrusion after the final notes of the Second Quartet have faded away into the mists of space. This was composed before the quartets and should have been placed there on this CD.
 
Other than that, the production itself is excellent. As is the recorded sound. I can’t fault the engineers for any of the noted deficiencies in dynamic range or atmosphere heard on this recording. The acoustic seems perfectly suited to this music and should have worked just fine.
 
This is beautifully recorded and proficiently played. But I need more than that in Legeti.