Guarneri String Quartet

The Dover Quartet, 'the young American string quartet of the moment' (The New Yorker) unveils the second installment in its critically acclaimed Beethoven quartet cycle on Cedille Records. The Dover’s three-disc set of Beethoven’s 'Middle Quartets' includes the three Op. 59 'Razumovsky' Quartets, infused with Russian folk tunes; the graceful 'Harp,' Op. 74, named for its plucked string figures; and the intense Op. 95 'Serioso,' a forward-looking experiment that Beethoven originally intended 'for a small circle of connoisseurs.' The Dover Quartet’s first Beethoven release, a traversal of the Op. 18 quartets, has garnered international praise. England’s The Strad said the ensemble exhibits 'a beguiling freshness and spontaneity that creates the impression of these relatively early masterworks arriving hot off the press.' In concert, the quartet has presented three complete Beethoven cycles, including the University at Buffalo’s famous 'Slee Cycle' — which has offered annual Beethoven quartet cycles since 1955 and has featured the likes of the Budapest, Guarneri, and Cleveland Quartets.

These are hardly the Hagen Quartett's first recordings of Beethoven's quartets. The group made its first Beethoven recordings back in 1997 with the Fugue for String Quartet, Op. 137, and the original version of Opus 18/6 for DG's Complete Beethoven Edition. But those early recordings, while breathtakingly good, cannot compare with later recordings of Beethoven's canonical quartets, climaxing with this coupling of Opus 127 and Opus 132, except in the sense that the same excellent ensemble made all of them.

What release is this that can command such a gaudy price? Well, take another look: that's for 142 (!) CDs, which is what's necessary to compile-for the first time- every Arthur Rubinstein album ever released! One of the great poets of the piano, Rubinstein is heard here on every RCA Victor album he made from 1940-76, and also on one Decca album from 1978. Lastly, you'll hear the fine recordings he made in England for HMV between 1928 and 1940 plus the world-premiere release of two Carnegie Hall concerts from December 8 and 10, 1961 (featuring works by Debussy and Chopin). A dream come true for classical lovers, and a dream that will soothe your musical soul for a very, very long time!

It wasn't so long ago that the only Sibelius quartet on disc was Voces intimae. Now the catalogue boasts no fewer than three accounts of the A minor, and the Voces intimae itself is available in five different versions. It is worth, perhaps, reminding you that before the Kullervo Symphony, Sibelius had hardly composed anything other than chamber music. After his breakthrough as an orchestral composer he continued to write music for domestic use, but into none of it did he pour ideas of any real significance or inspiration, with the sole exception of Voces intimae.