Alwyn: String Quartets Nos. 10-13

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It’s difficult to imagine finer performances than those delivered by the Tippett Quartet; the group’s fairly recent personnel changes have had no detracting effect at all on the group’s immaculate... — BBC Music Magazine, May 2017, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 27th Jan 2017
Catalogue No: SOMMCD0165
Label: Somm
Length: 69 minutes

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Alwyn: String Quartet No. 10

Work length18:47

$4.00

$5.20

$7.00

Tippett Quartet

I. Departure. Adagio e dolente

Track length5:20

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

II. Sea Birds. Allegro vivace

Track length4:26

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

III. The Lonely Waters. Adagio ma non troppo

Track length5:34

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

IV. Trade Winds. Vivace

Track length3:27

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Alwyn: String Quartet No. 11

Work length18:55

$5.00

$6.45

$8.75

Tippett Quartet

I. Andante ma non troppo - Allegro con brio - Andante

Track length10:12

$3.00

$3.85

$5.25

II. Andante e semplice

Track length4:22

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

III. Moderato e quieto

Track length4:21

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Alwyn: String Quartet No. 12 "Fantasia"

Work length12:57

$3.00

$3.85

$5.25

Tippett Quartet

Alwyn: String Quartet No. 13

Work length19:04

$5.00

$6.45

$8.75

Tippett Quartet

I. Adagio e largamente e marcato

Track length7:13

$2.00

$2.60

$3.50

II. Allegro molto e vivace

Track length11:51

$3.00

$3.85

$5.25

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As ever, SOMM and its artists are busy discovering new treasures in a wide range of repertoire and this month's CD release featuring first recordings of four of William Alwyn's early String Quartets with the celebrated Tippett Quartet, will come as a delightful surprise. Alwyn became Professor of Composition at London's Royal Academy of Music in 1926 at the age of 21, a position that he was to retain for almost 30 years. His large corpus of work comes close to 300 works which include music in all genres. His major orchestral works include five symphonies, and concertos for flute, oboe, violin, harp and piano and no less than 200 film scores. Alwyn began writing music for string quartet in 1920, when he produced his String Quartet in G minor at just fifteen years of age. The years 1923 to 1936 produced a further twelve string quartets (four of which feature on this disc), so fascinated was the composer with this “most intimate of mediums”, as he called it. The four string quartets included here contain some truly memorable and original ideas and have been unjustly neglected after receiving enthusiastic reviews at their respective premieres. Each of these quartets inhabit quite different sound worlds. No.10 (En voyage) is the most overtly romantic. Alwyn was an avid reader throughout his life and often found inspiration for his creative work as a composer from poetry or a novel he had just read that would suddenly fire his imagination. The single movement Fantasia (No. 12) is the most experimental of the four with Alwyn trying his hand at being more modern and contemporary with romanticism cast to one side for the moment. However, this was not to last as quartets 11 and 13 clearly demonstrate that Alwyn was and would always remain a romantic at heart.

Reviews

May 2017

It’s difficult to imagine finer performances than those delivered by the Tippett Quartet; the group’s fairly recent personnel changes have had no detracting effect at all on the group’s immaculate tonal blend and technical precision.

9th February 2017

Fresh and invigorating works from the composer's late-twenties.

10th February 2017

The Tippett Quartet give warm, muscular performances.

The Classical Reviewer 30th March 2017

these quartets…offer much pleasure, particularly in performances as fine as these from the Tippett Quartet.

Offer,Alwyn: String Quartets Nos. 10-13

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