Composer: Béla Bartók, Benjamin Britten, Henry Purcell, Mátyás Gyorgy Seiber, Michael Kemp Tippett
Performer: Amadeus Quartet
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Audite
Catalogue: AUDITE21429
Release: 2015
Size: 450 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
CD 01
Britten: String Quartet No. 2 in C major, Op. 36
01. I. Allegro calmo senza rigore
02. II. Vivace
03. III. Chacony: Sostenuto
Tippett: String Quartet No. 2
04. I. Allegro grazioso
05. II. Andante
06. III. Presto
07. IV. Allegro appassionato
08. Purcell: Chacony
09. Purcell: Fantazia 7 in C minor, Z. 738
10. Purcell: Fantazia 9 in A minor, Z. 740
CD 02
Seiber: String Quartet No. 3, “Quartetto lirico”
01. I. Andante amabile
02. II. Allegretto scherzando e leggiero
03. III. Lento espressivo
Bartók: String Quartet No. 4, Sz 91
04. I. Allegro
05. II. Prestissimo, con sordino
06. III. Non troppo lento
07. IV. Allegretto pizzicato
08. V. Allegro molto
Bartók: String Quartet No. 6, Sz 114
09. I. Mesto – Più mosso, pesante – Vivace
10. II. Mesto – Marcia
11. III. Mesto – Burletta: Moderato
12. IV. Mesto
Volume IV in the series The RIAS Amadeus Quartet Recordings presents the ensemble with 20th century Hungarian and English works. The Baroque composer Henry Purcell is also represented – as a reference point for Benjamin Britten’s Second String Quartet. This edition substantially broadens the view of the Amadeus Quartet and demonstrates the inquisitiveness and assuredness with which Norbert Brainin and his three colleagues explored the music of their contemporaries.
Prompts to follow this path came from fellow musicians and colleagues at London’s Morley College. Under the direction of Michael Tippett, a group of young composers, including Mátyás Seiber and Peter Racine Fricker, wrote their new string quartets for the Amadeus Quartet. Apart from Michael Tippett, it was first and foremost Benjamin Britten who, around 1950, established his reputation as Britain’s most renowned composer. His Second String Quartet was conceived as a reminiscence of Henry Purcell, a progenitor of English music, for the 250th anniversary of his death. Two of Purcell’s string fantasias and a chaconne, on which Britten had based his work, have therefore been included in this edition. They are released for the first time in the Amadeus Quartet’s interpretation.
The Hungarian composer Mátyás Seiber – who, like the members of the Amadeus Quartet, had to emigrate to Britain after the Nazis had seized power in Germany – wrote his Quartetto lirico in the spirit of the Viennese School, particularly that of Alban Berg. He also championed the string quartets of his fellow countryman Béla Bartók, whose Fourth and Sixth Quartets are also available for the first time as performances by the Amadeus Quartet.
The audite series The RIAS Amadeus Quartet Recordings, scheduled to include six volumes, exclusively presents performances released for the first time on CD.