Composer: Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky
Performer: Dudok Quartet Amsterdam
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Rubicon
Catalogue: RCD1124
Release: 2025
Size: 1.05 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Quartet Movement in B-Flat Major
01. Adagio misterioso – Allegro con moto
String Quartet No. 3 in E flat minor, Op. 30
02. I. Andante sostenuto – Allegro moderato
03. II. Allegretto vivo e scherzando
04. III. Andante funebre e doloroso, ma con moto
05. IV. Finale. Allegro non troppo e risoluto
The Seasons, Op. 37a, TH 135
06. III. March. Song of the Lark (Arr. for String Quartet by David Faber)
07. VII. July. Song of the Reaper (Arr. for String Quartet by David Faber)
08. IX. September. The Hunt (Arr. for String Quartet by David Faber)
09. X. October. Autumn Song (Arr. for String Quartet by Marie-Louise de Jong)
Performed using gut strings, the Dudok Quartet’s Tchaikovsky String Quartet cycle is notable for the ‘new ‘sound world they reveal. There is a raw naturalness to the sound together with an intimacy that steel strings cannot match.
After completing his 3rd quartet in 1876, Tchaikovsky all but abandoned chamber music, and embarked on a remarkable period of creative output which included the last three symphonies, and the majority of his operas. His only chamber works after the quartets are the piano trio and sextet of 1882 and 1890 respectively, and the string quartets date from 1865 for the incomplete B flat work, to 1876 and the final quartet which is the centre piece of this album.
The Dudok Quartet’s arrangements of four of the solo piano works that form The Seasons rounds off this album, and the Dudok’s cycle of Tchaikovsky’s string quartets.
