Schubert, Shostakovitch Death And The Maiden, Chamber Symphony {denon Promo Cd} (1987)

Avec ce nouvel album consacré à Schubert, enregistré à l’été 2020 dans la merveilleuse acoustique de la Salle de Musique de La Chaux-de-Fonds, en Suisse, le Quatuor Arod procède de la même démarche qui avait porté ses fruits autour de Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, soit un chef-d’œuvre de la maturité mis en regard avec une oeuvre de jeunesse pour mieux voir la trajectoire parcourue.Ici c’est le Quatuor en ré mineur, « La mort et la jeune fille » (et non l’inverse si on veut en traduite le titre littéralement), et le Quartettsatz en ut mineur qui se retrouvent face à face avec le rare Quatuor en ut majeur, D. 46 composé par un Schubert de seize ans. Un adolescent souriant touché par la grâce sur lequel la maladie et la mélancolie n’ont pas encore étendu leur aile maléfique.C’est un jeune homme sous influence, celle du Quatuor « Dissonances », K. 465 de Mozart, qui lui permet d’affirmer son écriture et d’effectuer une sorte de descente en lui-même dans une atmosphère trouble et mystérieuse dès l’introduction copiée sur son modèle. Mais la jeunesse reprend le dessus dans un Finale joyeux, une polka pleine d’une saine vitalité. Le Quatuor Arod privilégie les tempos vifs dans une palette expressive très variée et un sens exceptionnel des nuances, du pianississimo à peine audible jusqu’au fortissimo le plus exalté.

Inspired by the black aura of Romanticism, Novus Quartet’s new disc brings together two major works from the Romantic repertoire. The finest Korean musicians put their virtuosity in the service of Schubert’s moving Death and the Maiden and Berg’s Lyrical Suite. In their own way, these works proceed to the encryption of the feeling of love. It is not a question of hiding it but of expressing it more powerfully than with words. And the intermingling of reminiscences weaves an irresistible poetic discourse – Schubert quoting one of his Lieder and Berg as homage to Zemlinsky’s Symphonie Lyrique.A record that once again allows this captivating quartet to hear the full extent of his talents in romantic music, from the dawn of the period until his last fires.They literally thrive in this repertoire!

The new album offers the chance to listen simultaneously to four Stradivari instruments and an Amati cello: The Quartetto di Cremona plays the Stradivarius Paganini Quartet, one of the few quartet "sets" completed by Antonio Stradivari and once owned by the legendary violinist Niccola Paganini. Eckart Runge plays a rare cello made by Hieronymus and Antonio Amati in their Cremonese atelier.

The new album offers the chance to listen simultaneously to four Stradivari instruments and an Amati cello: The Quartetto di Cremona plays the Stradivarius Paganini Quartet, one of the few quartet "sets" completed by Antonio Stradivari and once owned by the legendary violinist Niccola Paganini. Eckart Runge plays a rare cello made by Hieronymus and Antonio Amati in their Cremonese atelier. After completing the recording cycle of Beethoven's String Quartets, the Quartetto di Cremona's new double CD is entirely dedicated to Franz Schubert, presenting two of his latest masterpieces: the String Quartet Death and the Maiden and the String Quintet in C major, with cellist Eckart Runge.

‘When we approach a composer, we like to immerse ourselves in his or her early works, in order to understand the evolution of the person behind the score.

"Inspired by the black aura of Romanticism, Novus Quartet’s new disc brings together two major works from the Romantic repertoire. The finest Korean musicians put their virtuosity in the service of Schubert’s moving Death and the Maiden and Berg’s Lyrical Suite. In their own way, these works proceed to the encryption of the feeling of love. It is not a question of hiding it but of expressing it more powerfully than with words. And the intermingling of reminiscences weaves an irresistible poetic discourse – Schubert quoting one of his Lieder and Berg as homage to Zemlinsky’s Symphonie Lyrique.A record that once again allows this captivating quartet to hear the full extent of his talents in romantic music, from the dawn of the period until his last fires.They literally thrive in this repertoire!"

“An outstanding album, was Gramophone magazine’s verdict on the Arod Quartet’s last release, a programme of Schoenberg, Zemlinsky and Webern. Remaining in Vienna, the young French quartet goes back to the time of Schubert.