Composer: Alfred Francis Hill
Performer: Dominion String Quartet
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Naxos
Catalogue: 8573416
Release: 2015
Size: 332 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
String Quartet No. 15 in A minor
01. I. Adagio – Allegro con spirito
02. II. Canzona
03. III. Serenade
04. IV. Finale: Allegretto
String Quartet No. 16 in B flat major ‘Celtic’
05. I. Adagio – Allegretto
06. II. Shule Agra: Adagio
07. III. Jig
08. IV. Finale: Adagio – Allegretto
String Quartet No. 17 in C major
09. I. Adagio – Allegro
10. II. Introduction and Serenade
11. III. Finale: Allegretto
Alfred Hill was the leading Australian-born composer of the Late Romantic era. During his studies in Leipzig from 1887 to 1891, he encountered luminaries such as Brahms, Dvořak, Tchaikovsky and Strauss.
His 17 String Quartets, the first significant examples of the genre from Australasia, are beautifully crafted works which draw on the legacy of European chamber music. With their Schubert-like melodies and rhythms, the outer movements of String Quartet No.15 frame a pair of harmonically more adventurous movements, No.16 ‘Celtic’ includes a setting of a 17th-century Irish song followed by an Irish Jig, while the poignant No.17 concludes with a brief quotation from Dvořak’s ‘New World Symphony’.
This is the final volume of the Dominion Quartet’s acclaimed recordings of the complete Alfred Hill String Quartets.