Escher String Quartet: String Quartets - SUPER-AUDIO CD

Title: String Quartets
Artist: Escher String Quartet
Label: Bis
Product Type: SUPER-AUDIO CD
UPC: 7318599926704
Genre: Classical
Release Date: 2023-06-02
Number of Discs: 1
Additional Details: HYBRID SACD

While the concept of the programmatic and autobiographical quartet seems to have been introduced by Beethoven, nowhere has it been taken up more forcefully than in the Czech lands, as the works presented here attest. Leoš Janácek's first quartet, subtitled 'Kreutzer Sonata', is based on a novella by Leo Tolstoy, which deals with such subjects as marriage, adultery and murder, all of which are evoked here by highly expressive music. The second quartet, the last major work he completed, is subtitled 'Intimate Letters'. The special feature of this unique and miraculous quartet, full of love songs and eruptions, is the intense and euphoric expression of the composer's inspirational and unrequited passion for a young woman. Pavel Haas, who studied with Janácek in Brno in the 1920s, composed his second string quartet subtitled 'From the Monkey Mountains' in 1925. Although the composer claims that he intended to evoke 'pleasant summer holidays in the country', it seems that the work also evokes a love story. A surprise is in store for us in the final movement, entitled 'A Wild Night': percussion is added to the string quartet and contributes to the jazzy atmosphere. It is played here by the Scottish virtuoso Colin Currie.

Tracks:
1.4 String Quartet No. 1 'Kreutzer Sonata' ('Z podnetu L.N. Tolstého "Kreutzerovy sonáty")~Con moto - (Adagio) - Più mosso
1.5 String Quartet No. 2 'Intimate Letters' (Listy duverné)~Andante - Con moto - Allegro
1.12 String Quartet No. 2, Op. 7 'From the Monkey Mountains' (Z Opicích hor)~A Wild Night (Divá oc). Vivace e con fuoco