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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Schulhoff, Sibelius and Janacek: String Quartets
This release features three striking early 20th century additions to the quartet repertoire. All have different temperaments and modes of expression but compliment each other, giving us insight into the rich possibilities of the era. | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Smetana & Sibelius: String Quartets
BBC Music Magazine award winners the Dante Quartet return for their third Hyperion recording with the string quartets of Smetana and Sibelius. This group, renowned for their inventive interpretations and sensitive articulation, capture perfectly the expressive intensity of these masterpieces. Smetana’s Quartet No 1 in E minor is entitled ‘From my life’ and musically chronicles his youth, loves and vocation, culminating with the onset of his deafness. The turbulent second Quartet in D minor serves as a sequel to the first, continuing Smetana’s life story. The musical language is adventurous and unusual, speaking movingly of the composer’s loss of his hearing. Interestingly, Smetana and Sibelius, both renowned for their skilful dealing with symphonic forces poignantly turned to the intimacy of the string quartet form at specific points of crisis in their lives. Voces intimae is an intense precursor to Sibelius’s tormented fourth Symphony, written at a time of profound depression. These works give a unique insight into the private musical lives of their composers and are performed by the Dante Quartet with conviction and flawless technique. “Different they might be, but the three quartets on this programme share a quality of intimacy and soul-searching that the Dante captures poignantly and powerfully, not overstating the issue but finding a mode of expression that encapsulates shifts of mood...The fluctuations of darkness and light, the juxtapositions of animation and still reflection, are communicated here with palpable heart.” The Telegraph, 5th May 2011 **** “The members of the Dante Quartet...offer an intense, dynamic and fully committed version of Smetana's 'From My Life', seizing the air immediately, giving a dramatic, even orchestral account of it...These performances are superb - the Dante Quartet players really have the ability to bring music alive and sustain the listener through these examples of quartet repertoire that may still be finding homes.” International Record Review, May 2011 “The Dante Quartet has developed into a force to be reckoned with...Each player contributes bag-loads of personality, drawing out the chill winds of Sibelius and the earthy rhythms of Smetana's Czech polkas, against which the onset of the composer's hearing-loss - depicted by a high-pitched violin whine - is all too heart-rending.” Classic FM Magazine, July 2011 **** “there's no grand statement, or positivity here, and that's reinforced by the obsessive way that Sibelius turns around his limited material, and by the Dante Quartet's refusal to glamorise the music. Their tone remains lean, and they don't milk the dynamics...By the time of the Second Quartet, Smetana's final madness was almost upon him; the Dantes characterise its rapid mood with cold intensity.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2011 ***** “This is an imaginative grouping: three autobiographical, confessional string quartets from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. [Smetana's] No. 2 is unrelievedly harrowing, written when he was a sick man, and sometimes dismissed as a failure. That is not how it sounds in this committed performance by the Dante, who also make the most of the soul-searching of Sibelius’s solitary quartet.” Sunday Times, 19th June 2011 *** “The Dante Quartet can scarcely be faulted in terms of passionate attack. Each performance is eloquent, intense and emotionally gripping...the urgency of all the fast movements is compelling.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2011  BBC Music Magazine
Chamber Choice - July 2011 |
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Hidden gems of the chamber music repertoire, the Fitzwilliam String Quartet's sublime recordings of the string quartets of Sibelius and Delius are released on CD for the first time, coupled with Delius's little cello masterpiece - his Sonata in one movement. Alan George of the Fitzwilliam Quartet provides the liner notes for the two pieces this ensemble has recorded and this reissue is dedicated to the memory of Christopher Rowland, first violinist, who recently passed away. “Powerhouse performances of three little known works” MusicWeb International | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Schoenberg & Sibelius: String Quartets
This is the debut album of an almost legendary string quartet and the artists have chosen outstanding monuments of the quartet repertoire which are seldom performed. “Here's a recording that offers rewards on so many levels...It's wonderful to hear Schoenberg played not only with such flawless intonation, but also with such understanding for the way the music thinks harmonically...top recommendations for both works, and an inspired coupling - don't hesitate.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2011 ***** “Theirs is certainly a non-indulgent response to the Intimate Voices of the long central adagio...the teeming invention of Schoenberg's counterpoint benefits from a cooler, more measured approach than it generally inspires, and I certainly heard - and admired - more of the inner workings of the piece than I can ever remember.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2011 “The success of this performance [of the Sibelius] lies in the conviction with which the Tetzlaff brings out its unlikely yet undeniable symmetry...In short, a masterful account of an important work...Few recordings [of the Schoenberg] have found so viable an equilibrium between density of argument and formal ingenuity...As recordings of these works go, there is none finer” International Record Review, January 2011 BBC Music Magazine Chamber Choice - March 2011 |
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| |  | Sibelius: Symphony No. 5 & String Quartet in D minorRecorded between 1950-52
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| |  | Coull Quartet play Sibelius
SOMM’s successful collaboration with the Coull Quartet continues this month with an unusual CD release of chamber music by Sibelius featuring the String Quartet ‘Voces Intimae’ in D minor which has had a handful of previous recordings and the Piano Quintet in G minor, with pianist Martin Roscoe, which is even less well represented in the CD catalogue. “Martin Roscoe and the Coull Quartet take [the Piano Quintet] seriously as chamber music...[and] demonstrate well enough what a coherently and originally argued work the mature Voces Intimae Quartet is” BBC Music Magazine, August 2010 **** “...the Coulls prove unflashy, dedicated and profoundly humane interpreters of the great D minor Quartet...scrupulously faithful to both the letter and the spirit of the score, and their pacing throughout strikes me as pretty much spot-on…Acquire with confidence!” Gramophone Magazine, September 2010 “Roscoe and the Coull Quartet play [the Quintet] with sympathy and conviction, and their eloquence shows the work to best advantage. In Voces intimae the Coull show show themselves as well attuned to the spirit (and letter) of this lovely score. The Somm recording is truthful and well balanced...a useful addition to the Sibelius discography.” International Record Review, October 2010 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Kocian Quartet play Sibelius & Smetana
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| |  | Mendelssohn/Sibelius: String Quartets
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| |  | Sibelius - String Quartets
“The charming early B flat Quartet and the stirring, masterly Voces Intimae are the chief works in this anthology, vibrantly and idiomatically played by the Tempera Quartet, a first-rate young Finnish ensemble who also give a moving account of the Andante Festivo.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2007 ***** “A praiseworthy conclusion to the Tempera's fascinating project. …containing the composer's 1909 masterpiece in the medium, Voces intimae. I can report that the Tempera give a technically immaculate, warm-toned and incisive display that will delight all those who have collected their series thus far. Boasting NIS's customarily mellifluous sound and exemplary presentation, this makes a fitting culmination to what has been a most rewarding series.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2007 | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | String Quartets
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Gramophone Magazine