76

he players take an appropriately spacious view of the Sunrise Quartet's serene opening bars, and provide a deeply felt account of the wonderful F sharp major slow movement from Op. 76/5. They offer, too, an intensely dramatic performance of the first movement of the D minor Fifths Quartet, and manage to find a striking change of colour for the minor sections of Op. 76/5's opening movement.

These quartets, Haydn's last great quartet collection, represent a peak of musical achievement that may have been equaled, but has never been surpassed. Haydn invented the string quartet way back in the 1750s, and by the time he came to write these works some 40 years later, his mastery was so natural and effortless that it's hardly noticeable. All you hear are the great tunes, dramatic surprises, fresh rhythms, and ever-new string textures. These immaculate performances by the Tokyo Quartet went a long way toward establishing it as one of the most exciting young string quartets to emerge in the past two decades, and they have been superbly recorded. A classic set, then, and essential listening.

The String Quartets, Op. 76 are among the most renowned of Joseph Haydn's sets of quartets, and carry the stamp of their maker: No other set of eighteenth-century string quartets is so diverse, or so unconcerned with the norms of the time. In the words of Haydn’s friend and contemporary Charles Burney ‘they are full of invention, fire, good taste and new effects’ – a striking description considering that Haydn had reached the respectable age of 64 when he composed the set. On a previous disc, the Chiaroscuro Quartet has recorded the first half of Op. 76, including No. 3, the celebrated ‘Emperor’ quartet. The release has won great acclaim, with the critic in Gramophone writing: ‘The Chiaroscuros' account of the remaining three Op 76 quartets can't come soon enough.’

One of the more intriguing Purple eras from over the years was their "Mark IV" lineup, which was comprised of David Coverdale (vocals), Glenn Hughes (vocals, bass), Tommy Bolin (guitar), Jon Lord (keyboards), and Ian Paice (drums)…

New Haven '76 represents Elvis' summer tour from 23rd July to August 5th 1976. Many Elvis fans consider this to be Elvis' worst Summer tour (apart from abysmal performances in Late August before things 'improved') The Tour coming straight after the three 'bodyguard' sackings finds Elvis on 'auto pilot' and (mostly) singing the absolute minimum of songs in a lacklustre manner…