August 5 6

The Quatuor Parisii was founded in 1981 by four Paris Conservatoire students, who played Milhaud's String Quartet No 4 in 1984 and promised Milhaud's widow Madeleine then that they would record all eighteen. They went on to win many prestigious competitions, remained together and completed this project last year. The performances are as good as you could reasonably expect (a few moments show a little strain) and are well recorded…….

Joseph-Guy Ropartz (1864-1955) was born in Guingamp, Côtes-d'Armor in the French province of Brittany. He studied composition at the Paris Conservatory with Théodore Dubois and Jules Massenet, and organ with César Franck. He enjoyed a long career as both a teacher and a conductor. Ropartz was associated with the Breton cultural renaissance of the era, setting to music the words of several Breton writers. His musical style was influenced by Claude Debussy and Cesar Franck. However he identified himself as a Celtic Breton rather than a Frenchman. He wrote in most genres and devoted considerable time to chamber music penning six string quartets.

The name of Eduard van Beinum may too often be overlooked among the music directors of Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, in between the longer and more internationally renowned tenures of Willem Mengelberg and Bernard Haitink, but this is a wrong that Eloquence has put right with the reissue of the greater portion of Van Beinum’s recorded work with the orchestra on both Decca and Philips. The conductor has been revealed anew as an interpreter of lucidly phrased fidelity to the score and uncommon sensitivity. The present issue brings repertoire especially close to Van Beinum’s heart. He was a master Schubertian, who needed to be taught no lessons by the nascent period-instrument movement on nurturing a hop, skip and jump in the composer’s effervescent orchestral textures or coaxing a sweetly flowing lyricism from their sunny complexions.

Una delle chiavi di volta della storia della musica è costituita dai Concerti Grossi op. VI di Arcangelo Corelli. Dopo la storica versione proposta da Amadeus nel 1998 con l’aggiunta degli strumenti a fiato, nell’interpretazione di Federico Maria Sardelli e dell’ensemble Modo Antiquo (nomination al Grammy Award), il ritorno alla versione per archi, così come è codificata dalla tradizione, era doveroso, ineludibile e, possiamo dire, imposto dalla magistrale interpretazione di Ottavio Dantone e dell’Accademia Bizantina.