Dvorak Quartet

When Antonin Dvorák learned to compose, he did it the old-fashioned way – by composing. Although he had written numerous shorter works earlier, the 20-year-old Bohemian bestowed his Opus 1 on a three-movement String Quintet in A minor for pairs of violins and violas plus cello in 1861. The next year, he turned out his Opus 2, a four-movement String Quartet in A major, and over the next 12 years, he wrote six more string quartets. Through them, the listener can follow Dvorák's progress from a talented amateur with an inexhaustible gift for melody and little feel for form to an almost-ready-for-the-big-time composer who'd learned to tighten his structures and control his gift for melody.

Second in popularity only to the Ninth Symphony "From the New World," Dvorák's Twelfth String Quartet – which was dubbed the "American" Quartet by the public and media rather than the composer himself – is a work nearly synonymous with the composer's tenure in the United States. These were not the only two works inspired by his cross-sea voyage, however. The Thirteenth String Quartet in G major, Op. 106, though not imbued with the same folkloric characteristics, also came about following the composer's return from the States. The popularity of the "American" Quartet has resulted in a work that is arguably overplayed, making it difficult for new ensembles to find anything new or unique to say about it.

The Hungarian-British Takács Quartet is neither Czech nor American nor German, but it conveys the three national strands of these wonderful late Dvorák works as few others have ever done. Buyers interested in these pieces have a selection of top-notch recordings from which to choose, but they are urgently directed to this one.

When released in 2001, these live performances of two Dvorak quartets caught the ABQ at their best (in concert from 1999). Quartet no. 10 in particular is a miracle of supple ensemble in which the smallest nuances of tone and phrasing are uncannily shared by each musician. This reading comes as close as imaginable to a string quartet sounding like a single great musician. Compared to performances by native Czech groups, the ABQ's Dvorak is urbane, subtle, and poised. Don't expect earthiness or rustic atmosphere.

One of the greatest string quartets of the 20th-century, the - 100% Austrian - Alban Berg Quartett remains famous for their unsurpassable renditions of the great Viennese masters. The ensemble notably put on record the supreme Beethoven cycle twice, once in studio, once in the Wiener Konzerthaus. Enjoy large excerpts of these milestone recordings, coupled with late masterpieces of Schubert (the Trout Quintet featuring Elisabeth Leonskaja, the quintet with two cellos featuring Heinrich Schiff…)

Following the extremely successful Dvorák string quartets set (SU 3815-2), the internationally renowned Panocha Quartet – celebrating this year its incredible 40th anniversary of performing in the original line-up – plays the main role in this set too. The four CDs comprise piano quartets and quintets, string quintets and a string sextet. In terms of Dvorák’s oeuvre, this selection virtually spans his entire creative lifetime, from the composition the author designated with the opus number 1 (String Quintet in A minor, B 7) to pieces from the composer’s late period.