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The Complete String Quartets
Benjamin Britten

Brodsky Quartet

The Complete String Quartets

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917265521
Catnr: CC 72655
Release date: 10 July 2015
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Label
Challenge Classics
UPC
0608917265521
Catalogue number
CC 72655
Release date
10 July 2015

""Very nuanced in tonal articulation, carefully pondering in dynamics, rhythmically spontaneous and yet controlled""

Fono Forum, 01-11-2015
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Artist(s)
Composer(s)
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About the album

The numbering of Britten’s three quartets is deceptive: between 1926 and 1936 he wrote ten works for quartet, including six full-length quartets, although only one of these (the Quartet in D of 1931) was published in his lifetime. Clearly the medium of the quartet was far more significant for Britten than it might appear. Few works caused him to work harder than the Suite Alla Quartetto Serioso (subtitled, after Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale, ‘Go play, boy, play’), composed between 1933 and 1936. Britten lost hope of any success with this
work, in spite of the effort that he had put into it, and the Divertimenti and the Alla Marcia remained unpublished until 1983, seven years after his death. In the spring of 1939 Britten went to Canada, and from there to the USA, where he was to remain for nearly three years. He began sketching a quartet in the summer of 1940. The quartet was first performed in Los Angeles in September 1941 by the Coolidge Quartet. Unlike the Divertimenti, the Quartet was generally well received, and widely played. A ‘first’ quartet this may be, but it is the work of a composer who knew exactly what he wanted to say. Although the Second followed only four years later, there is then a gap of thirty years before the Third. Indeed he wrote hardly any chamber music at all after the Second Quartet. Britten’s career shows a major change of direction once he had succeeded in the field of opera, and the quartet is almost left behind. But this does not diminish the stature of his three mature string quartets: the entirely different and distinctive approach he adopted in each one of them makes one wish that he had found the space to write more.

The Second Quartet was commissioned early in 1945 by Mary Behrend, a notable patron of the arts. It was first performed in November. With hindsight we know the Third Quartet to be Britten’s last major work. At the time of its completion, a year before his death - he was still planning large-scale works. But he was well aware that his time was limited, and it is neither imagination
nor sentiment that sees the shadow of death over the music. The Third Quartet is close to the world of the Cello Suites, with their
increasingly free form and imaginative range.
Alle strijkkwartetten van Britten op één dubbelalbum
Dit dubbelalbum bevat grote werken van een belangrijke componist uit de 20e eeuw. Namelijk, alle strijkkwartetten van Benjamin Britten. Het album brengt de bejubelde opnames van deze werken door het Brodsky Quartet eindelijk samen.

Britten was laat met het componeren van zijn officiële Eerste Strijkkwartet (1941), voor iemand die al veel voor deze bezetting schreef in zijn vroege jaren. Ondanks dat het zijn eerste kwartet was, wist de componist precies wat hij wilde zeggen. Het kwartet werd goed ontvangen door het publiek.

Het Tweede Strijkkwartet volgde vier jaar later. Mary Behrend, een belangrijke sponsor van de kunsten, gaf Britten de opdracht om dit werk te componeren. De première was in november 1945.

Tussen het tweede en derde strijkkwartet zit een gat van dertig jaar. Het werk lijkt vanwege de steeds vrijere vorm en het tot de verbeelding sprekende bereik erg op de Cellosuites. Het Derde Strijkkwartet is Brittens laatste grote werk. Toen Britten het had afgerond, een jaar voordat hij zou overlijden, was hij nog bezig met grootschalige werken. Maar hij was zich er al van bewust dat zijn tijd beperkt was. Het is geen verbeelding dat de schaduw van de dood over zijn muziek valt.
Alle Streichquartette Brittens

Das Brodsky Quartet ist eines der gefeiersten Streichquartette unserer Zeit. Ihre Interpretation von Brittens Streichquartetten wurde unter anderem mit dem Diapason d'Or und CHOC du Monde de la Musique ausgezeichnet. Challenge Classics veröffentlicht nun Aufnahmen aller Streichquartette Brittens auf einer 2-CD-Box. Abgerundet wird das Programm mit den Three Divertimenti von 1936.

Artist(s)

Brodsky Quartet

Since its formation in 1972, the Brodsky Quartet has performed over 3000 concerts on the major stages of the world and has released more than 60 recordings. A natural curiosity and an insatiable desire to explore has propelled the group in a number of artistic directions and continues to ensure them not only a prominent presence on the international chamber music scene, but also a rich and varied musical existence. Their energy and craftsmanship has attracted numerous awards and accolades worldwide, while ongoing educational work provides a vehicle for passing on experience and staying in touch with the next generation. Throughout their 40-year career, the Brodsky Quartet has enjoyed a busy international performing schedule, and has toured extensively throughout Australasia, North...
more

Since its formation in 1972, the Brodsky Quartet has performed over 3000 concerts on the major stages of the world and has released more than 60 recordings. A natural curiosity and an insatiable desire to explore has propelled the group in a number of artistic directions and continues to ensure them not only a prominent presence on the international chamber music scene, but also a rich and varied musical existence. Their energy and craftsmanship has attracted numerous awards and accolades worldwide, while ongoing educational work provides a vehicle for passing on experience and staying in touch with the next generation.
Throughout their 40-year career, the Brodsky Quartet has enjoyed a busy international performing schedule, and has toured extensively throughout Australasia, North and South America, Asia, South Africa, and Europe, as well as performing at many of the UK’s major festivals and venues. The quartet is also regularly recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio. Over the years the Brodsky Quartet has undertaken numerous performances of the complete cycles of quartets by Schubert, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Britten, Schoenberg, Zemlinsky, Webern and Bartok. It is, however, the complete Shostakovich cycle that has now become synonymous with their name: their 2012 London performance of the cycle resulting in them taking the prestigious title of ‘Artist in Residence’ at London’s Kings Place.
The Brodsky Quartet also has a busy recording career, and 2012 marked the beginning of a new and exclusive relationship with Chandos Records. Releases on the label so far include Petits Fours,a celebratory album of ‘Encore’ pieces, arranged exclusively by the Quartet for their 40th anniversary; a Debussy compilation including the Quartet's long-awaited recording of the great Debussy Quartet; In the South featuring works by Verdi, Paganini, Wolf and Puccini; New World Quartets comprising works by Dvorak, Copland, Gershwin and Brubeck; and the first of two Brahms discs which includes the iconic Clarinet Quintet with collaborating partner, Michael Collins. Recent awards for recordings include the Diapason D'Or and the CHOC du Monde de la Musique for their recordings of string quartets by Britten, Beethoven and Janacek, and, for their outstanding contribution to innovation in programming, the Brodsky Quartet has received a Royal Philharmonic Society Award. They have taught at many international chamber music courses and held residencies in several music institutes, including the first such post at the University of Cambridge. They are currently International Fellows of Chamber Music at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and have been awarded Honorary Doctorates at the University of Kent and University of Teesside.
The Quartet is named after the great Russian violinist Adolf Brodsky, dedicatee of Tchaikovsky's violin concerto and a passionate chamber musician.
Daniel Rowland plays a violin made by Lorenzo Storioni of Cremona in 1793; Ian Belton’s violin is by Gio. Paolo Maggini c.1615 and Paul Cassidy plays on La Delfina viola, c. 1720, courtesy of Sra. Delfina Entrecanales. Jacqueline Thomas plays a cello made by Thomas Perry in 1785.


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Composer(s)

Benjamin Britten

Benjamin Britten is one most important British composers from the second half of the twentieth century. Remarkably, he focused on opera, a dying genre, at least in its current form. Britten's contributions however, among which Peter Grimes, The Rape of Lucretia, Gloriana, The Turn of the Screw, and Death in Venice, managed to remain core repertoire for opera companies to this day. Many of these productions included a role for his artistic partner and life companion Peter Pears. Britten also wrote a number of lieder for this tenor, among which his Serenade for tenor, horn and string orchestra. Yet, Britten excelled in many more genres. He wasn't even 20 years old when he composed his brilliant Phantasy for hobo quartet and his friendship with...
more

Benjamin Britten is one most important British composers from the second half of the twentieth century. Remarkably, he focused on opera, a dying genre, at least in its current form. Britten's contributions however, among which Peter Grimes, The Rape of Lucretia, Gloriana, The Turn of the Screw, and Death in Venice, managed to remain core repertoire for opera companies to this day. Many of these productions included a role for his artistic partner and life companion Peter Pears. Britten also wrote a number of lieder for this tenor, among which his Serenade for tenor, horn and string orchestra. Yet, Britten excelled in many more genres. He wasn't even 20 years old when he composed his brilliant Phantasy for hobo quartet and his friendship with the legendary cellist Rostropovich led to a Cello sonata, three Suites for cello solo and a Symphony for Cello and orchestra in the 1960s.

Britten never became Master of the Queen's Music, yet he surely had feeling for public sentiments. For example, as a pacifist, he taught his people about world peace through his War Requiem from 1962. Britten was an excellent interpreter of his own work, just like Bartók and Stravinsky. Many of his recordings have been matched, but never exceeded.


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Press

"Very nuanced in tonal articulation, carefully pondering in dynamics, rhythmically spontaneous and yet controlled"
Fono Forum, 01-11-2015

["].. The detail, the warmth, sophistication and intensity sounds fresh " as ever " and the deep, subtle strings sound does the rest."
Opusklassiek, 01-9-2015

“The Brodsky are the Britten team for the new century, and at full price they take advantage of the super-refined Snape Maltings acoustic to offer performances of great intelligence and expressive power. No other recording of No 2 manages to convey the dramatic passion and lyric sweep of Britten's marvellously idiomatic string writing more persuasively than this one does. At two points during the long finale, the inner voices don't sound, to these ears, sufficiently distinct, the presentation of the all- pervading chaconne theme under-articulated...this is exemplary, with immaculate ensemble and a sense of spontaneous expressive engagement bringing out the full stature of this deeply felt, valedictory music. A memorable disc, then, and an outstanding Britten cycle.”
The Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 30-7-2015

Play album Play album
Disc #1
01.
Three Divertimenti (1936): March
03:48
(Benjamin Britten) Brodsky Quartet
02.
Three Divertimenti (1936): Waltz
03:01
(Benjamin Britten) Brodsky Quartet
03.
Three Divertimenti (1936): Burlesque
03:17
(Benjamin Britten) Brodsky Quartet
04.
String Quartet no. 1 opus 25 in D major (1941): Andante sostenuto - Allegro vivo
09:04
(Benjamin Britten) Brodsky Quartet
05.
String Quartet no. 1 opus 25 in D major (1941): Allegretto con slancio
02:53
(Benjamin Britten) Brodsky Quartet
06.
String Quartet no. 1 opus 25 in D major (1941): Andante calmo
10:43
(Benjamin Britten) Brodsky Quartet
07.
String Quartet no. 1 opus 25 in D major (1941): Molto vivace
03:44
(Benjamin Britten) Brodsky Quartet

Disc #2
01.
String Quartet no. 2 in C Op. 36 (1945): I. Allegro calmo, senza rigore
08:39
(Benjamin Britten) Brodsky Quartet
02.
String Quartet no. 2 in C Op. 36 (1945): II. Vivace
03:50
(Benjamin Britten) Brodsky Quartet
03.
String Quartet no. 2 in C Op. 36 (1945): III. Chacony: Sostenuto
19:15
(Benjamin Britten) Brodsky Quartet
04.
String Quartet no. 3 Op. 94 (1975): I. Duets: With moderate movement
06:32
(Benjamin Britten) Brodsky Quartet
05.
String Quartet no. 3 Op. 94 (1975): II. Ostinato: Very fast
03:16
(Benjamin Britten) Brodsky Quartet
06.
String Quartet no. 3 Op. 94 (1975): III. Solo: Very calm
05:53
(Benjamin Britten) Brodsky Quartet
07.
String Quartet no. 3 Op. 94 (1975): IV. Burlesque: Fast con fuoco
02:17
(Benjamin Britten) Brodsky Quartet
08.
String Quartet no. 3 Op. 94 (1975): V. Recitative and Passacaglia (La Serenissima): Slow – Slowly moving 10’47
03:44
(Benjamin Britten) Brodsky Quartet
show all tracks

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