French Music for String Quartets

On this CD:

1. String Quartet, L. 85 (Op. 10)
Composed by Claude Debussy
Performed by Curtis Macomber, New World String Quartet, Vahn Armstrong, Ross Harbaugh, Benjamin Simon

2. String Quartet in F major
Composed by Maurice Ravel
Performed by Curtis Macomber, New World String Quartet, Vahn Armstrong, Ross Harbaugh, Benjamin Simon

3. Ainsi la nuit, for string quartet
Composed by Henri Dutilleux
Performed by Curtis Macomber, New World String Quartet, Vahn Armstrong, Ross Harbaugh, Benjamin Simon

Customer Reviews:

The music is forever elusive, the performances are great.......2007-02-24

I can only add a few personal comments to Mr. Sobel's intelligent and perceptive review. These are, as he says, glorious performances, and if you buy the 'expanded edition,' you get a mesmerizing transcription for Yo-Yo Ma of Massenet's Meditation from Thais for violin (a moldy chestnut, but Ma plays it as if it's genius). Faure's chamber music is written in his own private harmony, relying a great deal on parallel chords; his melodic inspiraiton is uneven and often tepid; his idiom can be cloying, like taffeta and whipped cream, made bitter with melancholy-- an uneasy mix.

Therefore, it's quite difficult to pull off either of his two Piano Quartets; there's not enough variety from begining to end. Even so, the opening sonata movemens in both works are Schumannesque and carry the most passion and conviciton. The Scherzo of the second quartet is a lively tarentella-like dance, and the same work's finale is mostly strong and vigorous. That's four movements out of eighth that bring me lasting enjoyment (the droopy, somber slow movements are worth skipping unless you want a rainy day in your living room).

It was wise of Ax, Stern, Laredo, and Ma to emphasize the German side of this music, which if taken as too French (delicate, diaphanous, haunting) can seem spineless, a dream of sonata form instead of the real thing. It would be hard to imagine more persuasive accounts, in fact, and the recorded sound is fine.

Average customer rating:

Monuments of 20th century quartet writing

Martinu: String Quartets Volume 1

Manufacturer: Naxos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Quartets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

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Similar Items:

String Quartets 3
String Quartets 2
Martinu: Chamber Music
Martinu: Symphonies
Frank Martin: 4 Sonnets à Cassandre; Piano Quintet; Violin Sonata

ASIN: B00004TTJL
Release Date: 2000-06-13

Tracks:

String Quartet No. 1: Moderato - Allegro Ma Non Troppo
String Quartet No. 1: Andante Moderato
String Quartet No. 1: Allegro Non Troppo
String Quartet No. 1: Allegro Con Brio
String Quartet No. 2: Moderato (Andante) - Allegro Vivace
String Quartet No. 2: Andante - Moderato
String Quartet No. 2: Allegro - Scherzando
String Quartet No. 2: Tri Jezdci (Three Horsemen)

Customer Reviews:

Monuments of 20th century quartet writing.......2000-07-01

It's sometimes difficult to figure how the major recording labels think. They deluge us with recordings of the complete Bartok Quartets (great music, no doubt, but dour and not easy to grasp), but ignore the approachable quartets of a fascinating composer like Martinu. (There are only couple of complete cycles of his 7 quartets.)

Once again it's up to the smaller labels to fill the breach. This is Vol. 1 of the Martinu quartets and if the rest match the quality of this recording there will be inexpensive way to explore these wonderfully rich pieces.

The first quartet, written in 1918, mixes a number of the styles of music then being composed. It has echoes of Ravel, Debussy, Dvorak, Janacek & Nielsen. Although it lacks the distintive stamp of Martinu's later music, there is a wonderful spacious quality to much of the music in the first two movements. The third movements reminds one of Dvorak. Perhaps the finale is a bit long, but overall the quartet holds the imagination.

The second quartet is much terser (about half as long as the first) and more characteristic. The winding theme which opens the first movement is immediately memorable and the piece is replete with the bouncy rhythms one associates with this composer.

The disc also includes a 12-minute piece written by the composer at age 12, which suggests that we may get all Martinu's music for string quartet.