Name: DVOŘÁK // String Quartets nos. 10 & 11
SKU: LDV 18
Price: 12.00 EUR
Availability: InStock

1 CD | LDV 18 | total duration: 70'11 | release date: 27/01/2015

DVOŘÁK // String Quartets nos. 10 & 11

Talich Quartet,

In 1975 Paris discovered four Czech musicians, and was dumbfounded by the depth of their harmony and the reach of their melody. The first recording followed a year later. The subject was Antonín Dvořák, the object the ‘American’ Quartet. An interpretation that has become legendary . . .

Since then, the Talich Quartet has been characterised, both in record and in concert and through all its changes in personnel, by a specific tone, a particular sonority that have always riveted the attention.

Now, with its poetic playing, its subtle, tender lyricism, the group returns at last to Dvořák with the Quartets nos.10 and 11.

In their time, these two works enjoyed genuine popular success. They were played all over Europe, and gained Dvořák a reputation as one of the most important chamber music composers of his day.

The Talich Quartet offers us here a chance to discover and appreciate these two masterpieces that have been unfairly overshadowed by the fame of the ‘American’ Quartet.

2015, Cello, DVOŘÁK, Talich Quartet, Viola, Violin

12,00 €

Booklet

Description

The Talich Quartet has been characterised, both in record and in concert and through all its changes in personnel, by a specific tone, a particular sonority that have always riveted the attention. Now, with its poetic playing, its subtle, tender lyricism, the group returns at last to Dvořák with the Quartets nos.10 and 11.

In their time, these two works enjoyed genuine popular success. They were played all over Europe, and gained Dvořák a reputation as one of the most important chamber music composers of his day. The Talich Quartet offers us here a chance to discover and appreciate these two masterpieces that have been unfairly overshadowed by the fame of the ‘American’ Quartet.

Quatuor à cordes n°11 in C major, op.61

Allegro 10’54
Poco adagio e molto cantabile 7’03
Scherzo. Allegro vivo 6’59
Finale. Vivace 6’49

Quatuor à cordes n°10 in E flat major, op.51

Allegro, ma non troppo 14’32
Dumka. Andante con moto 7’18
Romanza 8’06
Finale. Allegro assai 8’06

JONATHAN WOOLF - Musicweb International'

Refined and sometimes even airy performances. [the Talich Quartet] plays with beautiful lyricism.

For sheer lyric elegance and an approach that lets the music unfold naturally, warmly and affectionately, you can’t go wrong with the Talich.

The Talich Quartet, a Bohemian soul

‘The Conservatory of Europe’ – that used to be the nickname of Bohemia. At the heart of central Europe, a people dedicated itself wholly to the art of melody. In the nineteenth century, when Czech musicians were recognised as great composers as well as performers, they gave birth to a repertory steeped in traditions, its inspiration passed on from generation to generation.

Václav Talich, a conductor of genius, was one of the most prominent central European artists in the following century. In 1964, Talich’s nephew Jan founded the string quartet that bears his name. In 1975 it became a chamber ensemble of the Czech Philharmonic, a distinction that quickly gained it international recognition. France became its second home, and thanks to the Calliope label it made some of the great benchmark recordings in the quartet discography, from Mozart to Janáček. La Dolce Volta has since taken up the torch and pursues an adventure too exciting to be interrupted.

For half a century now, even though the bows have changed hands, the quartet’s personality has displayed marked stylistic continuity: spontaneous expressiveness, delicious unpredictability of attack, telling accentuation of folk rhythms, absolute precision and, equally, a sensation of miraculous fragility. Throughout the years, the Talich Quartet has remained the ambassador of a prodigious musical history, nourished by the memory of the torrents and castles of Bohemia, of tales and legends, and of the passions of the Czech people even before it was established as a nation in the aftermath of the First World War. The quartet’s multi-award-winning recordings mirror their interpretation of Janáček’s Second Quartet, ‘Intimate Letters’: the most enchanting of conversations in music.