I. Allegro
II. Adagio
III. Allegro vivo
IV. Allegro moderato



Albert Roussel was born in Tourcoing, France, close to the Belgian border. Early in life he wasnt particularly interested in music but loved mathematics. After spending time in the French Navy, and serving in southern Vietnam, he started to get interested in music, first studying harmony in Roubaix with Julien Koszul (grandfather of Henri Dutilleux). Koszul, impressed with Roussel's aptitude, encouraged him to go to Paris to study with with Eugène Gigout. Roussel continued his studies until 1908 at the Schola Cantorum de Paris, with Vincent d'Indy, amongst others. He had a knack for teaching and soon took on young pupils of his own (including Satie, Martinu and Varèse) eventually becoming professor of counterpoint at the Schola. During the First World War, Roussel served as an ambulance driver on the Western Front and then post-war he bought a summer house in Normandy where he began composing his music. Martinu later dedicated his Serenade for Chamber Orchestra (1930) to Roussel.
As a tribute to his influence, on his 60th birthday a series of three concerts of his works was dedicated to him, in Paris, and a new piece was written especially for the occasion (Homage to Albert Roussel) which was written by Ibert, Poulenc, and Honegger, amongst others. In the last decade of his life Roussel was dogged by poor health. He got pneumonia and jaundice over the winter of 1933 and the final two years of his life were plagued by bouts of severe angina. He had just finished his Trio for oboe, clarinet, and bassoon when he was struck down by a heart attack and died on August 23, 1937 in Royan, leaving that as his last completed full work. He was buried in the churchyard of Saint Valery in Varengeville-sur-Mer.
He was in his early 60s when he wrote his only string quartet, composed between 1931-32, at his summer house, and dedicated (like a number of his works) to the highly supportive Belgian banker and patron of the arts, Henry Le Boeuf.
It's a four movement work and its opening Allegro begins with a little dissonance however it soon starts to settle into a rhythm. A lyrical phrase acts as the main theme with plenty of ensemble support. The music ranges between slower and colourful to more frenzied with some unison passages. After the recapitulation of the initial theme the intensity decreases and the first violin seeks out a new melody for a time with the other instruments interceding. There's more lyrical music until that initial theme returns and accompaniment becomes busy, all playing the initial theme boldly before we end on one of these lyrical statements.
The following adagio, is poignant, romantic and lyrical. The music here seems oddly old-fashioned with lush violin melodies and some fine support from the 2nd violin. After a while the mood becomes slightly more mysterious, laid back and yet warm. There's a familiarity here that I can't quite put my finger on. After a while the cello makes a more telling contribution with its own variations on the music. After a period of more intense violin the more serene mood returns until the violins take us to a fading closure.
The very brief 3rd movement, Allegro vivo, begins merrily, with a lolloping rhythm and the violins exchanging melodic ideas although in conversation. There's some lovely pizzicato here to break up the chattering violins, a small more serious passage and then the opening gaities return to take us out jauntily.
The finale gives us the 3rd Allegro (this time a moderato) of the work. After a solo violin intro the second violin joins followed by viola and cello. The music becomes almost tense and as if they've all reached a set of broken traffic lights, unsure of who to give right of way to. After a period of further confusion and a brief pause there's some scurrying ensemble backing a searing violin. More chaos ensues as the cello intercedes but fails miserably to establish a rhythm (does he want to?). It's an odd movement with lots of texture and colour but the lack of direction is confusing especially as the music that precedes it seems so much more surefooted. A busy coda has the violins chattering again over a sporadic pizzicato cello before a bold chord brings us to an end.
It's not a popular piece for the concert hall these days and I understand why. I've never been convinced by that oddly confused finale even though I do enjoy the rest of the work. With this in mind you won't be surprised to hear that many of the recordings of this work are quite old, however in this case that's not a bad thing as they are some of the better ones, in this case. The only recording that I didn't get to hear was that of the Quatuor Parisii.

The Parrenin Quartet were recorded by Westminster back in the 1950s. Their mono effort is not wholly intonated perfectly but it's committed but balances are a bit askew in favour of the violins especially (the viola tends to disappear completely in the mix at times). I'm not sure if this has ever had a digital release but with better recordings of this vintage I'd stick with those, instead.
The Quatuor Via Nova's 70s recording has been issued many times over the years (Vox, Warner Apex, etc) and it's a fine effort even though they are often, marginally just the right side of pitchy. The stereo, analogue sound still sounds good and violist Gérard Caussé & Co tick all the right boxes in ensemble even if that first violin sounds a bit sinewy. Again, it's an easy recommendation.
Because of this I prefer the Novak Quartet's 1968 recording to the Via Nova. It's slightly less edgy but the intonation is spot-on and they inject the music with their own bucolic, Czech charm. This one's now probably well deleted but it's definitely worthwhile tracking it down as it did get one decent cd release some years back . They are particularly good in the 1st and the short 3rd movements.
The Schönberg Quartet laid down their traversal for Brilliant Classics in the mid 90s (part of a Roussel complete Chamber music set) and tbh the recording is not as great as it should be considering it's modernity. The quartet are distantly miked which is a crying shame as their playing is impressive throughout, especially in that tricky finale. Still an easy recommendation though.
The award-winning, Quatour Rosamonde recording dates from 2001 and came out on a small French label. However, the sound, although close, is clear, dynamics are strong but not OTT and the quartet's ensemble work is very good. Right now this is my favourite of the more modern efforts. Easily recommended.
The Loewenguth Quartet recorded their Roussel SQ for DG in 1950. It was always a very good, clear mono transfer even back then but it's since been remastered, cleaned up some more and reissued by Naxos. The result is a recording that now sounds better than ever. The Loewenguth could be a pitchy bunch and were often unfairly burdened with dreadful sound for their releases but this later one caught them in top form and beautifully intonated. As a result they are vibrant, brisk, bold and clear. They also play the adagio and finale way better than most. It's mono, so it's not going to be state of the art soundwise but it's damn ideal for 50s mono with clear basses, well balanced instrumentation and all beautifully captured and there's no way I could have this further down this list. Classy.