The Ruisi Quartet: Big House
Pentatone

Old meets new on this strong Pentatone debut recording by The Ruisi Quartet. Together for a decade and comprised of brothers Alessandro (violin) and Max Ruisi (cello), second violinist Oliver Cave, and violist Luba Tunnicliffe, the four convened at Snape Matings Concert Hall in Aldeburgh in April 2021 to bring the eighty-three-minute Big House into being. Seeking shelter from the pandemic storm and amidst world-wide lockdowns, the group recorded two Haydn quartets and pieces by English baroque composer Matthew Locke (c. 1621-1677) and British composer Oliver Leith (b. 1990). The composers are, by the quartet's own admission, an unlikely trio, and hearing works separated by centuries side-by-side tends to amplify their differences.

That's starkly evident when the Fantasie in F by Locke is followed by Leith's slippery reflection, 2020's A different Fantasie from Suite no.5 in G minor. The slow, rapturous lilt with which Locke's expressive work opens makes it irresistible, and the lively counterpoint that follows proves as appealing. Leith then proceeds to surgically re-examine Locke's phrases, elongating them into woozy, pitch-shifting figures and making the material feel as if it's dissolving before one's ears—a different Fantasie indeed.

That arresting piece sets the stage for his seven-part The Big House, a woolly mammoth marked by audacious twists and turns, innovative techniques, and unusual tunings. Commissioned by the Ruisi Quartet, The Big House was inspired by photographer Sir Simon Marsden's 1980 book In Ruins: The Once Great Houses of Ireland, which shows many a once-great home in a decrepit state. The Ruisi brothers and Leith have known one another since Oliver and Max attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama together and felt comfortable working closely on The Big House to refine its presentation. The composer would encourage the group to be looser or lazier in its performance, and instructions included in the score—things such as “like your foot on the gas of an old car,” “a little pathetic and dizzy,” and “with the charm of a children's orchestra, but played on an organ”—reflect the eccentric character of the music.

Each movement explores an unusual micro-world: tremulous strings imbue the opening “Big House” with a haunted quality; “Blue bottles” is like a three-minute death crawl; gentle bow-strokes in “Sunshine choir” evoke the image of light passing through dust-covered windows; crying glissandos give “Cornicing” a slithering character; “Pomegranate” wheezes with figures dripping like one of Dali's melting objects. While Leith's nearly half-hour creation isn't intended to be a sonic distillation of Marsden's book, textural decay is very much a dimension of the piece.

As fascinating as Leith's works are, the quartets by Haydn (1732-1809) that frame the release prove as satisfying. Both pulsate with energy, and The Ruisi Quartet's renderings offer plenty of rewards and excitement. One would think many years would separate the writing of an eleventh and twenty-third quartet, but in fact only three years passed between the String Quartet No. 11 in D Minor, Op. 9, No. 4 (1769) and the No. 23 in F Minor, Op. 20, No. 5 (1772). Tinged with melancholy, the elegantly articulated “Moderato” eases the eleventh in smoothly, after which sweetly singing phrases pull the listener in even more. Rendered with authority and poise, the opening movement gives way to a lyrical minuet, a wholly beguiling “Adagio cantabile,” and an effervescent finale that's as winning. Similar in form, the twenty-third begins with an “Allegro moderato” that's endearing for its lyrical charm and subtle shadings of darkness, then ventures into an enticing “Menuetto - Trio,” stops for a graceful “Adagio” that disarms for its simple, unsullied beauty, and concludes with a finale that's urgent, exuberant, and compact.

Asked to define The Ruisi Quartet's approach, Alessandro describes its sound as one “that draws you in rather than anything demonstrative.” On the contrary: it is demonstrative, though not overbearingly so. As far as drawing you in, Big House does that a good number of times.

May 2023