Gernsheim: String Quartets, Vol. 1

Album review

As the author of five string quartets (composed between 1872 and 1911), multiple symphonies and an extensive catalogue of chamber music, Friedrich Gernsheim (1839-1916) was a solitary genius who was all-too-often ignored. Born in Worms into a cultured and well-to-do Jewish family, he quickly made a name for himself thanks to his exceptional talent and maturity. At the age of sixteen, with his qualifications under his belt, he went to try his luck in Paris. It was there that he met Liszt, Lalo, Saint-Saëns, Rossini and Berlioz. Though the pull back to his country of birth was strong and he eventually settled in Cologne, where he became director of the Conservatory.

He was admired by Mahler and Strauss, a childhood friend of Bruch and exchanged extensive correspondence with Brahms. The two quartets recorded on this first volume by the brilliant Diogenes Quartet immediately attract attention for their effusive and tormented elements. While the influence of Brahms and Dvořák is palpable, the pieces are perfectly unique and have not deserved to be forgotten. The rise of Nazism in the 1920s was obviously not conducive to the diffusion of his music. Instead, it is the Diogenes Quartet (founded in 1998) who get to enjoy that honour. They have prepared a complete set of these five quartets, this album being the first exciting volume. © François Hudry/Qobuz