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Previous releases from the New York-based Escher Quartet include an acclaimed set of Mendelsohn’s six String Quartets as well as an album with works by Dvořák, Tchaikovsky and Borodin. For their latest offering the members have looked closer to home, however, choosing to combine the quartets by Samuel Barber and Charles Ives. The recording opens with Barber’s String Quartet in B minor, containing the music for which the composer remains best-known: the second movement which he two years later expanded into Adagio for Strings. Recognizing its potential already while composing it, Barber described the piece as "a knock-out" – which made it all the more difficult to come up with a third movement worthy to follow it. In the end he decided to make the quartet a two-movement work, but the Eschers have here included the lively third movement that the composer discarded, offering the opportunity to hear the work as it was once planned.
Barber is followed by the two full-scale quartets by Charles Ives, as well as a brief Scherzo. Like many other compositions by Ives, his First Quartet makes extensive use of revival and gospel hymns, quoting them in all four movements in a highly accessible tonal idiom. Far more challenging, the Second Quartet is a portrayal of "four men / who converse, discuss, argue ... fight, shake hands, shut up / then walk up the mountainside to view the firmament" – a programme which invites a liberal use of dissonance, but also – towards the end – a particularly fulfilling resolution. © BIS Records
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String Quartet in B Minor, Op. 11 (Samuel Barber)
Samuel Barber, Composer - Escher String Quartet, Ensemble, MainArtist - Thore Brinkmann, Producer, SoundEngineer
2021 BIS 2021 (P) BIS
Samuel Barber, Composer - Escher String Quartet, Ensemble, MainArtist - Thore Brinkmann, Producer, SoundEngineer
2021 BIS 2021 (P) BIS
Samuel Barber, Composer - Escher String Quartet, Ensemble, MainArtist - Thore Brinkmann, Producer, SoundEngineer
2021 BIS 2021 (P) BIS
Samuel Barber, Composer - Escher String Quartet, Ensemble, MainArtist - Thore Brinkmann, Producer, SoundEngineer
2021 BIS 2021 (P) BIS
String Quartet No. 1 "From the Salvation Army" (Charles Ives)
Charles Ives, Composer - Escher String Quartet, Ensemble, MainArtist - Thore Brinkmann, Producer, SoundEngineer
2021 BIS 2021 (P) BIS
Charles Ives, Composer - Escher String Quartet, Ensemble, MainArtist - Thore Brinkmann, Producer, SoundEngineer
2021 BIS 2021 (P) BIS
Charles Ives, Composer - Escher String Quartet, Ensemble, MainArtist - Thore Brinkmann, Producer, SoundEngineer
2021 BIS 2021 (P) BIS
Charles Ives, Composer - Escher String Quartet, Ensemble, MainArtist - Thore Brinkmann, Producer, SoundEngineer
2021 BIS 2021 (P) BIS
A Set of 3 Short Pieces (Charles Ives)
Charles Ives, Composer - Escher String Quartet, Ensemble, MainArtist - Thore Brinkmann, Producer, SoundEngineer
2021 BIS 2021 (P) BIS
String Quartet No. 2 (Charles Ives)
Charles Ives, Composer - Escher String Quartet, Ensemble, MainArtist - Thore Brinkmann, Producer, SoundEngineer
2021 BIS 2021 (P) BIS
Charles Ives, Composer - Escher String Quartet, Ensemble, MainArtist - Thore Brinkmann, Producer, SoundEngineer
2021 BIS 2021 (P) BIS
Charles Ives, Composer - Escher String Quartet, Ensemble, MainArtist - Thore Brinkmann, Producer, SoundEngineer
2021 BIS 2021 (P) BIS
Album review
Previous releases from the New York-based Escher Quartet include an acclaimed set of Mendelsohn’s six String Quartets as well as an album with works by Dvořák, Tchaikovsky and Borodin. For their latest offering the members have looked closer to home, however, choosing to combine the quartets by Samuel Barber and Charles Ives. The recording opens with Barber’s String Quartet in B minor, containing the music for which the composer remains best-known: the second movement which he two years later expanded into Adagio for Strings. Recognizing its potential already while composing it, Barber described the piece as "a knock-out" – which made it all the more difficult to come up with a third movement worthy to follow it. In the end he decided to make the quartet a two-movement work, but the Eschers have here included the lively third movement that the composer discarded, offering the opportunity to hear the work as it was once planned.
Barber is followed by the two full-scale quartets by Charles Ives, as well as a brief Scherzo. Like many other compositions by Ives, his First Quartet makes extensive use of revival and gospel hymns, quoting them in all four movements in a highly accessible tonal idiom. Far more challenging, the Second Quartet is a portrayal of "four men / who converse, discuss, argue ... fight, shake hands, shut up / then walk up the mountainside to view the firmament" – a programme which invites a liberal use of dissonance, but also – towards the end – a particularly fulfilling resolution. © BIS Records
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 12 track(s)
- Total length: 01:13:51
- 1 Digital booklet
- Main artists: Escher String Quartet
- Composer: Various Composers
- Label: BIS
- Genre: Classical Chamber Music
2021 BIS 2021 BIS
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