Composer: Niccolò Paganini
Performer: Mario Hossen, Marta Potulska, Liliana Kehayova, Alexander Swete, Paganini Ensemble Vienna
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Dynamic
Catalogue: CDS7912
Release: 2021
Size: 1.06 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Guitar Quartet No. 1 in A minor, Op. 4 / 1, MS28
01. I. Introduzione. Andante marcato – II. Vivace
02. III. Minuetto. Andantino
03. IV. Tema con variazioni. Adagietto cantabile
Guitar Quartet No. 2 in C major, Op. 4 / 2, MS29
04. I. Moderato
05. II. Minuetto. Andante
06. III. Larghetto
07. IV. Rondo. Allegretto
Guitar Quartet No. 9 in D Major, MS36
08. I. Allegro moderato
09. II. Minuetto alla valtz. Allegretto mosso
10. III. Adagio sostenuto appassionatamente
11. IV. Finale. Allegro vivace
Nicolò Paganini’s Quartets for Strings and Guitar are among his finest chamber compositions. The First Guitar Quartet was a wedding gift from Paganini to his younger sister; and both this and the Second Quartet share neo-classical poise with warmly expressive romantic lyricism. The Ninth Quartet features sweet and melancholy moods containing some of Paganini’s most disarmingly simple melodies, and as the composer himself stated, “a very fanciful minuet and a moving trio”.
The Paganini Ensemble Vienna has set its goal high in presenting this rarely played program which offers unique insight into Paganini’s extensive oeuvre for the violin, guitar, viola, and violoncello. These works offer not only technical virtuosity and moments of tremendous passion, but also passages expressing great tenderness, suffering, and joy. Indeed, these emotional elements are essential to understanding the music of Nicolo Paganini, who once said “We must strongly feel to make others feel”.