I ~~;Never Less

By comparison, the within Saint-Saens's Societe But in gathering together all his Canada-based Cecilia Quartet, Nationale de Musique, whose music for that duo. German DVORAK String Quartets winner ofthe 2010 Banff remit was to encourage a contemporary-music in D minor op.34 Imernational String Quartet decisively French music). specialists Andreas Seidel and & G major op.l 06 Competition, produces an The performances are Steffen Schleiermacher reveal Zemlinsky Quartet opulent sonodty, with the convincingly ideal, winning in. its surprising variety, and PRAGA DIGITAlS PRD/DSD 250 292 cello centre-right of the their nimbleness and panache. deliver some precise, (HYBRID SACO) ensemble and the viola on If the scherzo of the committed performances that, the right wing. It takes a more C minor Quartet is sprightly while sometimes rather cool. DVORAK String Quartet in impressionable, rhythmically and spirited, the players are never less than beguiling. G major op.106, Cypresses, flexible, overtly Romantic highlight its contrast with the The earliest pieces here Waltzes op.54 nos.l & 4 approach. Whereas the G minor's more edgy, harder the Webernesque Piece for Cecilia Quartet Zemlinsky plays op.106's driven equivalent movement. ANALEKrA AN 2 9892 initial flourishes as a breezy The Adagio of the C minor r,:;: performances Contrasting approaches curtain-opener, the Cecilia brings plenty of drama in I ~~;never less to Dvotak from Czech hurls us straight into the its octave doubling, and the than beguiling and Canadian quartets action with an espressivo movement unfolds as a slow urgency so powerful that recitative with a directness _j one could almost be listening ofcommunication to match, to a different piece. capped by a deliciously violin and piano (1950) and The scherzo is no mere suspended coda. the graphic-scored Projection generic, post-Mendelssohn Above all, it's the qualities IV (19 51) -are brief, but interlude, but becomes of transparency, instinctively Seidel shows his remarkable The combination ofconcert -hall a compelling emotional balanced tone and an ever tonal control and some sophistication and outdoor narrative in its own right. circulating background mischievous wit. In the innocence-via a sublime Cypresses and the Waltzes momentum that mark out latter piece, especially, be fusion of Schubertian lyricism (gentle miniatures in theory) these performances, and darts between a thin, reedy and Czech folk song - chat lies are also played with the kind in quantities that should sound, piercing pizzicaros at the core of Dvorak's creative of deeply felt imperativeness easily convert sceptics ofthis and breathy harmonics with psyche has proved highly and affection normally repertoire. The engineering what seems like a sparkle in elusive on disc. The Gabrieli reserved for full-blown creates a satisfying balance, his eye. Extensions 1 (19 51) is Quartet hit an interpretative masterpieces. The recording's with the piano, even at full an oddity in Feldman's output bull's eye with its beguiling richly glmving ambience tilt, never threatening the in contrasting very quiet and early 1970s account of the heightens the impact of strings with an overpowering very loud sounds, and the 'American' Quartet (Classics these fine performances. wall of sound. duo makes the most of the for Pleasure) and here the JULIAN HAYLOCK EDWARD BHESANIA sudden explosions ofnoise, Zem.linsky Quartet is on with delicate interplay in similarly inspired form, the softer sections. relishing the dancing Seidel gives a remarkable exuberance of op.34's Alla reading of the enigmatic polka second movemenr FAURE Piano Quartets FELDMAN Complete music Vertical Thoughts 2 {1963}, and op.l06's upbeat finale. no.l inC minor op.15 & for violin and piano:. Spring in which he seems to emerge If Beethoven rarely lets no.2 in G minor op.45 of Chosroes, Extensions 1, from silence with his every you forget that the string Daishin Kashimoto (violin) Extensions 3, Vertical Thoughts note, as though afraid quartet is a rarefied, elevated Lise Berthaud (viola) 2, Vertical Thoughts 4, For of disturbing the listener. genre, Dvorak tends towards Fran~ois Salque (cello) Aaron Copland, Piece for violin He turns what could have warm approachability, a vital Eric LeSage (piano) and piano, Projection IV, Piece been quite an abstract, dimension emphasised by AlPHA601 for four pianos, For john Cage enigmatic essay into the captivating playing of Ideal accounts of Faure's Andreas Seidel (violin) something rather moving. the Zemlinsky musicians, two piano quartets Steffen Schleiermacher But it's in the longest work who have been accorded (piano) here-the 76-minute For John glorious, naturally balanced Alpha's ongoing MOG SCENE 613 1524-2 (IWO DISCS) Cage (1982), which fills the sound (the effect is enhanced series of Faure's An enlightening exploration second disc-that the duo on the SACD surround chamber music of the music of an American really comes into its own. layer). The G major Quartet's with piano modernist master The players are precise tantalising mood of carefree centres not yet pointed in the piece's introspection is particularly unnaturally on pianist Eric Le US composer seemingly endless repetitions, difficult to realise convincingly, Sage. Thus it's perhaps fair to Morton Feldman turning them almost into and here the highly skilled say that the string players in {1926-87) didn't sounds from the environment Czech players are in their this second volume in a sense write that around us, and they bring element, encapsulating the take their lead from him, much for the an understated drama to the conductor Hans von Bulow's resulting in highly elegant combination ofviolin and work's gentle clusters and memorably apt description playing that is never laden piano, as the informative dissonances. The recorded of Dvorak as 'the peasant with Germanic baggage (these booklet notes to this sound is warm and truthful. in a frock-coat'. were after all works promoted compelling two-disc set tell us. OAVIOKffiLE .

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