This Chandos album follows the enjoyable practice of offering listeners something fairly familiar with something relatively unfamiliar. The familiar, in this case, are the two highly programmatic string quartets of Leos Janácek. The less familiar works are the string quartets of Szymanowski, whose music is still just coming into its much-deserved spotlight. The Schoenberg Quartet has built the bulk of its career on the interpretation and performance of composers of the New Viennese School such as Berg, Webern, and of course ...
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This Chandos album follows the enjoyable practice of offering listeners something fairly familiar with something relatively unfamiliar. The familiar, in this case, are the two highly programmatic string quartets of Leos Janácek. The less familiar works are the string quartets of Szymanowski, whose music is still just coming into its much-deserved spotlight. The Schoenberg Quartet has built the bulk of its career on the interpretation and performance of composers of the New Viennese School such as Berg, Webern, and of course, Schoenberg himself. Although neither Szymanowski nor Janácek fall directly into this category, per se, both of their compositions incorporate many extended techniques, polytonality, and sonic traits often associated with the New Viennese School. It is surprising, then, that the quartet's performance of these two composers is not stronger and more convincing. The ensemble possesses superior control of the color of the tone and can deftly alternate between piercing, whispering,...
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Add this copy of Janácek: String Quartet 1, 2; Szymanowski: String to cart. $38.95, new condition, Sold by Revaluation Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Exeter, DEVON, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2007 by CHANDOS.