Gewandhaus Quartet

"How Anton Rubinstein in the end succeeded in creating a comprehensive oeuvre covering all the genres while making breathtaking concert and traveling rounds as a pianist is something that numbers among the incomprehensibilities of his life marked by a tireless work ethos. During the course of his busy life on the go he composed more than a dozen operas, six symphonies, an oratorio, a ballet, some two hundred songs, countless works for piano solo and for piano in the concerto style and with orchestral accompaniment, and chamber music for various formations with and without piano. He also composed ten string quartets, two of which are now being released on cpo. Rubinstein composed these works during his time in Leipzig, and the Reinhold Quartet, whose members are musicians of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig, offer powerful interpretations of them. The two Quartets Nos. 1 and 3 in minor keys from op. 47 are on the one hand subtly linked together motivically and on the other hand most highly different in design."

The Afflatus Quartet’s second album features classical repertoire by Beethoven and Mozart. The distinguished ensemble members create a rich, full sound on this wonderful disc…

This is listed as the final installment in the Eroica’s Mendelssohn quartets series. It also happens to come on the heels of two brand new complete sets—one from the preeminent Emerson Quartet, the other from the pacesetting Pacifica Quartet. Comparisons to these ensembles, though probably unavoidable, are not particularly apt or instructive, for the Eroica is a period-instruments group dedicated to interpretations of 19th-century Romantic works that reflect as closely as possible the performance practices that would have been in vogue at the time the music was written.

Boris Blacher & Witold Lutoslawski: String Quartets
Neues Leipziger Streichquartett
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 172 MB | Full Artwork: 46 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: MDG # L 3507 | Country/Year: Germany 1994
Genre: Classical | Style: Contemporary

Witold Roman Lutosławski was a Polish composer and orchestral conductor. He was one of the major European composers of the 20th century, and one of the preeminent Polish musicians during his last three decades. / Boris Blacher was a German composer. His career was interrupted by National Socialism. He was accused of writing degenerate music and lost his teaching post at the Dresden Conservatory…