Sirius Quartet Evans String Quartet No 1

If this premiere recording of Stephen Hough’s String Quartet No 1 may be regarded as definitive—the work is dedicated to the Takács Quartet—those of the quartets by Ravel and Dutilleux are no less distinguished.

This is a brilliant idea for a CD. Composed within a time-frame of 11 years (1917-28), at a similar geographical distance from the main cosmopolitan centres of music, and with similar stylistic overlaps between late Romanticism and modernism, these two pairs of quartets make for genuinely illuminating comparison.

Classical in its respect for established forms, romantic in its clearly autobiographical nature, the chamber music by the composer of The Bartered Bride is not plentiful, especially when compared with the output of his younger, immediate successor, Antonfn Dvoiik, who returned to the string quaner form rhroughout his creative life, producing fifteen between 1862 and 1895. Well removed from absolute music - as would be Leoš Janáček's after him -, Smetana's surviving chamber catalogue consists of only four works that make up a rare case of psychological programme music. The Piano Trio(1855) already represented a sort of tombeau for the small daughter he had recently lost to scarlet fever.

Their recording of the American Quartet and String Quartet No. 13, Op. 106 (Gramophone Award - Recording of the Year), elevated the Pavel Haas Quartet among the finest performers of Antonín Dvorák's music. This position was subsequently confirmed by a recording of the composer's quintets, made with the violist Pavel Nikl, a founding member of the ensemble, and the pianist Boris Giltburg, winner of the Queen Elisabeth Competition. The album received the most coveted classical music accolades (Gramophone Chamber Award, BBC Radio 3 Record Review Discs of the Year, Diapason d'Or, etc.). While recording the Dvorák quintets, the logical idea of a Brahms album was born.

BIS presents its first disc of works by this fascinating contemporary Icelandic composer. One of the label’s most innovative projects ever undertaken, the disc uniquely offers a variety of works composed specifically for the CD medium. Ingolfsson was closely involved in the making of this CD, through both the recording session and editing stages, and the decisions that he made throughout this process have undoubtedly shaped the end result we have here.

Antonín Dvořák’s music, imbued with the spirit of Bohemia, reflects a love of his native land. His String Sextet, written in the distinctive style which brought him international fame, was an immediate success at its premiere. Composed just eight years earlier, his String Quartet No. 4, unpublished until 1968, features pioneering, wild outer movements, highly unusual for the time, which foreshadowed the modernist innovations of composers decades later. A moving Andante religioso, which Dvořák made use of in future works, lies at its heart. The Polonaise exploits both the soulful and virtuoso character of the cello. Volumes 1–8 are also available.

Since its formation in 1975, the Takács Quartet has been recognized as one of the world's leading string quartets. Their award-winning recordings include the complete Beethoven String Quartets for Decca, recorded between 2002 and 2004. Decca Classics celebrates the acclaimed quartet with this multi-media presentation of the Beethoven quartets on 7 CDs and a 104-page booklet.