Tippett Quartet - String Quartets Nos 3 & 5 - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The brief heyday of the Anhaltinische Hof in Zerbst (Saxony-Anhalt) coincided with the work of it's court Kapellmeister Johann Friedrich Fasch. The benevolent and prudent Prince Johann August von Anhalt-Zerbst (1677-1742) expanded his court orchestra and engaged outstanding musicians for this purpose. The duties of his Kapellmeister were varied and extensive, including providing special compositions for the birthdays of the ruling family. For the prince's birthday on 9 June 1723, he composed InchThe Four Day TimesInch, a serenata for four soloists and a very colourful and lavish orchestra. With Aurora (the morning), Phoebus (the noon), Hesperus (the evening) and Cynthia (the night), the deities of the four times of day appear to pay homage to the ruler. The programme is complemented by an equally colourful four-movement Fantasia, which unusually requires three different soloist scorings first 2 oboes, then 2 transverse flutes and the last two movements are then a first version of Fasch's concerto for chalumeau, the preliminary form of the clarinet. All works are world premiere recordings.

Though Miklos Rozsa became one of the most admired film composers, he had always written music in other forms and his two published string quartets reveal important facets of his musical background. String Quartet No. 1 was written in 1950 when he was under contract with MGM and, with it's nocturnal and folk-dance imagery, is redolent of his Hungarian youth. String Quartet No. 2 is prophetic of his later sparer style, though it too is infused with great energy and high drama. The String Trio, Op. 1, recorded for the first time in it's original 1929 published version, abounds with youthful vitality.

Michael Tippett, who was 'invincibly drawn to the quartet medium' when he heard performances by the Busch and Lener Quartets during his student years in London, wrote five string quartets spanning his entire compositional life.