The first two decades of the twenty-first century, especially since the important 2003 essay collection Performing Brahms, have seen an increased interest in historical performing practices of later nineteenth-century music, particularly that of Brahms.Footnote ¹ Perhaps the method of reconstructing these practices is more personal than for earlier periods. In addition to reading treatises of the time, scholars can scour Brahms's correspondence for clues of performance and read reviews and other first-hand accounts of performances by the composer and those in his circle. Most tellingly, they can listen to recordings by some of those performers, such as Joseph Joachim and many of Clara Schumann's students. Early orchestral recordings may also provide useful information about ensemble playing. Equipped with such knowledge, contemporary performers employing historical performance practices typically make use of increased flexibility of rhythm and tempo, rolled chords and dislocation in the piano (the asynchronous playing of melody and accompaniment), and portamenti as well as less vibrato in the strings. All of these techniques have the potential to enhance the expressive qualities of the music and, in the best cases, can imbue it with fresh life. Combined with period instruments, these techniques can also significantly change the sound-world of familiar music.

The Primrose Piano Quartet's new album offers testament to this ongoing movement to incorporate historically informed performance practices into contemporary performances of Brahms's music. After years of research even culminating in a four-day symposium exploring the subject, the Primrose Piano Quartet have recorded all three Brahms piano quartets (Opp. 25, 26 and 60). They make use of gut strings, which offer a variety of tonal colour, and several different period pianos. John Thwaites plays an 1878 Ehrbar piano in the C minor quartet, an 1870 Streicher in the G minor and an 1850s Blüthner in the A major. Each piano offers a slightly different sound; for example, the Ehrbar seems to have a darker tone colour, perhaps to match the more tragic mood of the C minor quartet. In the informative liner notes, Thwaites also mentions that the Streicher offers a better imitation of the cimbalom in the G minor quartet's Rondo alla Zingarese. In general, these pianos contribute to transparent textures without sounding dry. The gut strings lend warmth and colour, which makes for especially expressive slow movements, and Suzanne Stanzeleit (violin), Dorothea Vogel (viola) and Andrew Fuller (cello) do not eschew vibrato.

Of interest for comparison is the 2016 recording of the Op. 25 G minor Piano Quartet and the Op. 34 Piano Quintet by the Ironwood Quartet, with Neal Peres Da Costa playing a replica of Brahms's 1868 Streicher & Sohn Viennese-action grand piano.Footnote ² The musicians at times employ a more extreme approach to some of the techniques detailed above, confronting the listener with a radically different sound than one generally hears in recordings of these works. In the opening of the G minor quartet, for example, Peres Da Costa dislocates some of the octaves, and the subsequent string passage includes several portamenti. Peres Da Costa also plays more (unnotated) rolled chords than Thwaites does, which may take some listeners by surprise. In general, Ironwood push and pull at the tempo more often than Primrose, which demands the listener's attention, but is not always convincing as it can disrupt the sense of pulse and line.

In contrast, the Primrose Piano Quartet take a more moderate approach, which may be less jarring to listeners unfamiliar with historically informed performance of Brahms. If ‘historically informed performance’ still signals ‘fast’ tempos to readers, don't worry: these tempos are on the more moderate side and avoid extremes. Indeed, the finales of the A major and G minor quartets could have a little more energy in the recording under review; they sound somewhat careful. Similarly, the finale of the C minor includes some tempo flexibility that lends the main theme more resistance than its fleeting Mendelssohnian character suggests. Tempo flexibility has more to do with changing tempos for different musical themes, fluctuations within phrases and freer interpretations of notated rhythms. Some of the most convincing examples of expressive rhythmic flexibility are the natural ebb and flow between thematic areas in the first movement of the G minor quartet and in the andante of the C minor quartet. Such flexibility is a welcome change from more metronomic performances of Brahms. There seems to be less interest on part of the Primrose Piano Quartet in modifying rhythms locally; in early recordings of Brahms from those in his circle, it is possible to hear what Baroque performance specialists would call notes inégales, but such musical effects are not apparent in the present recording.Footnote ³

The second Quartet, the warmest of the three, and that which Clara Schumann preferred to the first, is the most successful in this performance. Here the rhythmic flexibility is effective, when, for example, in the first-movement development section, the Primrose Quartet play an accelerando to accompany Brahms's crescendo at bars 128−140. According to the research of Peres Da Costa and colleagues, in the nineteenth century, this practice would have been assumed with merely the dynamic indication.Footnote ⁴ In the poco adagio they create a beautiful sound-world, enhanced by the excellent recording quality and balance engineered by Richard Hughes.

Despite some striking moments, such as the C minor quartet finale's chordal hymn where Thwaites dislocates between bass and upper chord, I find these performances not as challenging for the listener as Ironwood's 2016 rendition of the Opp. 25 and 34. They are easier to entrain to – as music theorists might say – that is, for the listener to find comfortable alignment with a musical pulse. They are well-engineered with an overall pleasant sound, and they offer an example of how aspects of historically informed performance practice can be smoothly reconciled with more familiar practices. They are worth hearing for those interested in the ongoing development of a contemporary historically informed approach to Brahms, and they may inspire more musicians to incorporate some of these techniques into their own playing.