This Haydn recording by young Modigliani Quartet brings
together three of the mature quartets by the composer regarded
as the creator of the genre.
The Modigliani Quartet was formed in 2003 and has become one
of the most praised and best considered French chamber music
groups, winning the 2006 Young Concert Artists International
Auditions in New York.They studied with the Ysaye quartet at the Paris Conservatoire, attended
masterclasses with Walter Levin and Gyorgy Kurtag through Pro Quartet in Paris and have been invited by
the Artemis Quartet to work with them in Berlin.
“With its immense musical gifts, this foursome has the potential to someday reach the top echelon” The Washington Post
“The young French musicians who make up the Quatuor Modigliani relish their Haydn, as the performances of these three works... demonstrate. At first, I wondered if they were sufficiently alive to Haydn’s humour — until the leader made the grace-note figure in the finale of the Sunrise bray like a donkey. The range of dynamics and colour is wide, the rhythmic tension and drive, in the Rider’s finale and elsewhere, superb. They also give the music space, in the Rider’s visionary slow movement and in the deceptively leisurely opening of the Sunrise.” Sunday Times, 13th July 2008 ****
“Refreshing to find this young, rising French string quartet, just five years old, exploring the Haydn treasure chest. To the three mature works chosen (the Sunrise quartet, the Rider, and Op 54 No 1) they bring a crisp attack, congenial eloquence and technical refinement. It’s easy to find Haydn the experimenter here. Harder to spot the composer’s smiles and natural wit. If only the Modiglianis would lighten their touch; then we’d be in Haydn heaven.” The Times, 25th July 2008 ***
