SACDs - Smetana

In its valedictory release, the world-renowned Tokyo String Quartet presents a pair of well loved chamber works offering a glimpse into the private world of two Czech composers. Antonín Dvorak and Bedrich Smetana – although they were sometimes regarded as musical opposites in their homeland – together they came to represent the quintessential sound of 19th-century Czech music.

Regarded as one of the supreme chamber ensembles of the world, the Tokyo String Quartet has captivated audiences and critics alike since it was founded 45 years ago. Performing over 100 concerts worldwide each season, the quartet has a devoted international following that includes the major capitals of the world and extends to all four corners of the globe.

Officially formed in 1969 at the Juilliard School of Music, the Tokyo String Quartet traces its origins to the Toho School of Music in Tokyo, where the founding members were profoundly influenced by Professor Hideo Saito. An exclusive collaboration with Deutsche Grammophon (more than 40 landmark recordings) firmly established it as one of the world’s leading quartets. The ensemble's recordingss for harmonia mundi USA have included an acclaimed cycle of Beethoven’s string quartets. Its most recent release was devoted to the Brahms Quintets Op. 34 (with Jon Nakamatsu, piano) and Op. 115 (with Jon Manasse, clarinet).

Ranging from idyllic to grandiose, the music is here performed by Claus Peter Flor and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, a team whose recording of the Asrael Symphony (BISSACD1776) by Smetana‘s compatriot Josef Suk made great impact on its release in 2009. Commending the sound quality (‘world-class’), the reviewer on the Classics Today website called it ‘one smoking hot performance’ by an orchestra playing ‘like a pack of demons’. The review in Classic FM Magazine included a ‘go buy recommendation’.

Smetana based his first quartet on experiences from his life. Already ravaged by severe illness he regarded his second quartet as a kind of musical testament, culminating in the last movement, entitled “Triumph over Fate”. Both quartets are deeply personal statements by the composer, and the interpretations of this music by the Bennewitz Quartet are genuinely moving.

Since their recording debut in 1991 the Grieg Trio has established itself as one of the leading ensembles in the world, with a number of highly acclaimed releases. Over the years It has performed at all of the world’s great concert venues, including the Concertgebouw, the Schauspielhaus and the Carnegie Hall. It is a regular visitor to London’s Wigmore Hall and has played there many times to great acclaim, most recently on the 23rd of February this year in a programme featuring works by Beethoven, Shostakovich and Brahms. The group’s new release, which includes trios by Tchaikovsky and Smetana, as well as a rarely recorded piece by Grieg, the Andante Con Moto, is being made available as a double SACD hybrid package for the price of one.

Edvard Grieg’s only essay in the genre was completed, according to the date on the manuscript, on 17 June 1878. The Andante Con Moto in C minor is a substantial piece apparently intended as the slow movement of a piano trio, though in fact its contrasts of character and alternation of slow with faster tempi make it an effective single-movement work. It is certainly no sketch or draft but a fully-realized piece in every way, and of a quality comparable to Grieg’s other, better known, chamber compositions.

Bedrich Smetana is one of the most prominent Czech national composers. His piano trio of 1855 was written in memory of his daughter ‘Frizi’, who died of scarlet fever the same year. The work is spontaneous, rhapsodic and deeply personal in its musical character.

Tchaikovsky’s trio Op. 50 holds a special position. The catalyst for this work was the death of the pianist and pedagogue Nicolai Rubinstein. Tchaikovsky stated that it was “a new form of music that I never have written before”. Op. 50 is a highlight in the romantic literature, both in the pure musical sense and because of the fact that the whole piece lasts for more than 46 minutes. The Grieg Trio received the Critics’ Award in 1993 for their performance of this epic piano trio.