Brodsky Quartet - Late String Quartets - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

A late discovery of a most important female composer from France for the musical world. Mélanie Hélène Bonis, known by her artistic pseudonym Mel Bonis (21 January 1858 - 18 March 1937), was a Romantic composer in the late years of the 19 c. and first half of the 20c.. Sheila Arnold and Sandrine Cantoreggi initiated this album and discovered not only a piece - Soir - never played or was registered before, but kept her choice also mainly to their own instruments Violin and Fortepiano (on a Bluethner Fortepiano 1871). Two Trios (one with Cello, the other with flute) embrace the program of small short pieces for Violin and Fortepiano, highlighting in particular the larger Violin Sonata, Op. 112.

In this recording of Alexander Zemlinsky's (1871-1942) complete String Quartets, the Brodsky Quartet gives fresh life to the composer's works, 'with a spirit so transformational you felt they were actually improving the world', as reported by the Strad after a recent concert performance. The four string quartets represent a journey through Zemlinsky's musical thought. The Brahmsian, youthful Quartet in A, op. 4 is generously proportioned and less earnest in mood than some earlier works. The Second Quartet, op. 15 echoes the composer's years of emotional crisis. Contrastingly, the Third Quartet, op. 19 appears to be a sarcastic protest against modernism, Zemlinsky exploiting a minimum of material to maximum effect. Having been blacklisted and his music declared 'degenerate', the Fourth Quartet, op. 25 (1936) only achieved it's first public performance in 1967. It deploys a wealth of thematic ideas in a process of continual variation and metamorphosis that follows the outlines of sonata form. The String Quartet in E minor failed to pass it's trial at the Viennese Tonkunstlerverein when first presented in 1893. Not published until 1997, it appears here on disc for the first time.

The Brodsky Quartet - Opus 18 Project [COMPACT DISCS] date 02/04/2003