Barber, S: String Quartet, Op. 11

Following two highly praised recordings for Naïve of music by Georges Onslow and the Second Viennese School, the Quatuor Diotima’s new recording presents three major compositions of 20th century American chamber music. They are Different Trains by Steve Reich (with a tape recorded by Diotima themselves), Samuel Barber’s Quartet op.11, which includes the original version of his famous ‘Adagio’, and George Crumb’s Black Angels.

Founded by graduates of the Paris and Lyon conservatoires, the Diotima Quartet is a favoured partner of many contemporary composers including Helmut Lachenmann, Brian Ferneyhough, and Toshio Hosokawa. It regularly commissions new pieces from such composers as Emmanuel Nunes and James Dillon, but by no means neglects the classic string quartet repertoire, paying particular attention to the late quartets of Beethoven, French music, and the music of the early twentieth century.

The quartet’s first recording of music by Lachenmann and Nono was awarded a Diapason d’Or in 2004 in the ‘Discovery’ category. Its discography includes the two Janacek quartets and Schoenberg’s Concerto for Quartet and Orchestra for the label Kairos, and an album with Thomas Larcher on ECM. The Quatuor Diotima’s recordings in recent years of quartets by Georges Onslow (V5200) and music of the Second Viennese School (V5240) for Naive have both been highly praised by reviewers.

Although he wrote two large scale operas, two symphonies and a concerto each for violin, cello and piano, the majority of Barber's compositions were on a much smaller scale. This collection of songs and chamber pieces contains some of his earliest work, dating from 1928 to 1940, with two groups of songs from 1968 and 1972 respectively.

The Adagio movement of the String Quartet from 1936 has, in its version for string orchestra, become one of the most popular works by an American composer. Here is an opportunity to hear it as Barber originally intended, and the intimacy brought to it by a smaller ensemble lends it a greater intensity.

Barber was a fine composer for the voice and his output of songs was prolific. Dover Beach, to words by Matthew Arnold, is one of Barber's finest compositions and it is beautifully sung here by Thomas Allen.

Contains standard CD and Blu-ray surround-sound audio disc

An extraordinary collection of Barber performances, most of them never before released. Several major works are included in both their original and revised versions. Newly restored sound.