Brahms: Complete String Quartets & Piano Quintet

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In 2003 the Belcea Quartet recorded a nerves-on-a-knife’s-edge account of Brahms’s C minor Quartet (Op 51 No 1) for EMI. Here, more than a decade on, their conception retains its essential ferocity,... — Gramophone Magazine, October 2016 More…

Release Date: 9th Sep 2016
Catalogue No: ALPHA248
Label: Alpha
Length: 2 hours 29 minutes

Diapason d’Or de l’Année

2016

Winner - Musique de Chambre
Presto Recordings of the Year

Finalist 2016

Brahms: String Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 51 No. 1

Work length34:20

$6.05

$9.15

$12.20

Belcea Quartet
Recorded: 16-17 November 2014
Recording Venue: Aldenburgh Music, Britten Studio, Snape, United Kingdom

I. Allegro

Track length11:25

$2.05

$3.05

$4.05

II. Romanze (Poco adagio)

Track length7:33

$1.50

$2.30

$3.05

III. Allegretto molto moderato e comodo

Track length9:20

$1.50

$2.30

$3.05

IV. Allegro

Track length6:02

$1.00

$1.50

$2.05

Brahms: String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 51 No. 2

Work length36:22

$6.05

$9.15

$12.20

Belcea Quartet
Recorded: 6-7 March 2015
Recording Venue: Aldenburgh Music, Britten Studio, Snape, United Kingdom

I. Allegro non troppo

Track length13:42

$2.05

$3.05

$4.05

II. Andante

Track length9:19

$1.50

$2.30

$3.05

III. Quasi minuetto, moderato

Track length5:40

$1.00

$1.50

$2.05

IV. Finale (Allegro non assai)

Track length7:41

$1.50

$2.30

$3.05

Brahms: String Quartet No. 3 in B flat major, Op. 67

Work length36:34

$6.00

$9.20

$12.20

Belcea Quartet
Recorded: 16-17 May 2015
Recording Venue: Aldenburgh Music, Britten Studio, Snape, United Kingdom

I. Vivace

Track length10:55

$1.50

$2.30

$3.05

II. Andante

Track length7:04

$1.50

$2.30

$3.05

III. Agitato (Allegretto non troppo)

Track length8:19

$1.50

$2.30

$3.05

IV. Poco allegretto con variazioni

Track length10:16

$1.50

$2.30

$3.05

Brahms: Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34

Work length42:16

Album only

Till Fellner, Belcea Quartet
Recorded: 21-22 December 2015
Recording Venue: Aldenburgh Music, Britten Studio, Snape, United Kingdom

I. Allegro non troppo

Track length15:36

Album only

II. Andante, un poco adagio

Track length8:34

$1.50

$2.30

$3.05

III. Scherzo (Allegro)

Track length7:26

$1.50

$2.30

$3.05

IV. Finale (Poco sostenuto - Allegro non troppo)

Track length10:40

$1.50

$2.30

$3.05

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About

More than twelve years after its initial incursion into the music of Brahms, the Belcea Quartet now presents an eagerly awaited complete recording of his string quartets. A powerful style and a sense of musical architecture are the two qualities most often attributed to the Belcea, which is now one of the top international quartets. And those characteristics blossom to the full in Brahms. For the Piano Quintet, its members are joined by Till Fellner. This Austrian former student of Alfred Brendel is one of today’s most respected pianists, combining grace, rigour and musical intelligence. In September 2016 the Belcea Quartet will embark on a tour that will take it to the United States and most countries in Europe.

To coincide with the release of this new Brahms set, Alpha Classics will also reissue the complete Beethoven quartets (8 CD set, ALPHA262).

Reviews

October 2016

In 2003 the Belcea Quartet recorded a nerves-on-a-knife’s-edge account of Brahms’s C minor Quartet (Op 51 No 1) for EMI. Here, more than a decade on, their conception retains its essential ferocity, though without quite so much exhausting franticness...this new set offers sufficient insight and delight to be worthy of any devoted Brahmsian’s attention.

9th October 2016

What a feast this is. The Belcea’s textures are so rich, you would think a larger force of strings was playing. And in the quintet’s glorious andante, their eloquence almost rivals that of the great Busch Quartet.

6th October 2016

[The Brahms quartets] are outpourings of angst, ardency and resolute jubilation, all characteristics that the Belceas do brilliantly. This recording features intense and wonderful quartet playing: lucid and agitated, sleek and muscular, with Corina Belcea’s silvery-lean first violin sound balanced by the huge warmth at the centre of the ensemble from violist Kzystof Chorzelski.

Videos

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Brahms: Complete String Quartets & Piano Quintet

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