Leos Janacek - String Quartets - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Album Tracks 1. I. Adagio - Con Moto 2. II. Con Moto 3. III. Con Moto - Vivo - Andante 4. IV. Con Moto 5. Our Evenings 6. A Blown-Away Leaf 7. Come with Us 8. The Madonna of Frydek 9. They Chattered Like Swallows 10. Words Fail! 11. Good Night! 12. Unutterable Anguish 13. In Tears 14. The Barn Owl Has Not Flown Away! 15. I. Andante 16. II. Adagio 17. III. Moderato 18. IV. Allegro

Formed in 1994 at the Royal College of Music in London, the Belcea Quartet already has an impressive discography, including the complete Beethoven string quartets. For this new recording, the ensemble has chosen three quartets by two iconic composers of the 20th century Leos Janácek and György Ligeti. Fifteen years after their first recording for Zig-Zag, and after some changes in personnel, they have decided to record again the two string quartets by Janácek. The First Quartet was inspired by Leon Tolstoy's famous novella, The Kreutzer Sonata the four-movement work follows the narrative, including it's culminating murder. The Second Quartet is subtitled Intimate Letters, in homage to Kamila Stösslova, with whom the composer had an important relationship expressed through letters, one that influenced both his life and his music. Finally, the First Quartet by Ligeti, subtitled Métamorphoses nocturnes because of it's particular form. The composer described the work as a sort of theme and variations, but not with a specific theme that is then subsequently varied rather, it is a single musical thought appearing under constantly new guises - for this reason the word 'metamophoses' is more appropriate than 'variations'. Album Tracks 1. String Quartet No. 1 'Kreutzer Sonata' 2. String Quartet No. 2 'Intimate Letters' 3. String Quartet No. 1 'Métamorphoses Nocturnes'

The string quartets by Leos Janacek can without any doubt be counted among the highlights of chamber music works of the period between the two World Wars. His first quartet from 1923 titled InchKreutzer SonataInch refers to the eponymous novella by Leo Tolstoy, a story about adultery and murder of jealousy, quickened by the power of music, and an expression of Tolstoy's deeply Christian and anarchistic understanding of sociology. InchIntimate lettersInch, Janaceks second string quartet composed in 1928, documents his discontent with his own conjugal life, depicting his long-term platonic affection for the likewise married Kamila Stösslova, with whom he exchanged more than 700 love letters. The Carinthian ensemble Acies Quartet presents yet another album of furious brilliance paired with their unmatched emotional profundity.