Maestro 025: String Quartets

Welcome to Indie Classical Spotlight, where we feature independent classical artists, labels and composers. We have 5 pieces for you today, focusing on String Quartets. We also have a very special feature on the Hagen Quartett’s new anniversary album, “Hagen Quartett 30”. Each is a recent release from our classical collection. For more information please visit www.maestroclassical.com. Potomac String Quartet "String quartet No. 6" (mp3) from "Quincy Porter - String Quartets" (Albany Records) Buy at Napster Buy at iTunes Music Store Buy at eMusic Buy at Rhapsody Stream from Rhapsody Buy at Puretracks Buy at Amazon MP3 Buy at mTraks More On This Album FIRST RECORDINGS OF THE COMPLETE WORKS FOR STRING QUARTET BY QUINCY PORTER. Like Charles Ives, Quincy Porter was a die-hard Connecticut Yankee from a well-to-do family with strong ties to Yale University. In fact, both studied composition under Horatio Parker at Yale. And both of them were staunchly patriotic and nationalistic, although Ives was the more radical composer. Porter, as part of his "day job," served as an educator and administrator at many of the nation's most prominent schools: Cleveland Institute, Vassar College, New England Conservatory and, finally, Yale where he taught for two decades. It has been claimed that the String Quartets of Porter are "some of the most substantial contributions to that literature made by an American" in no less an authoritative source than the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Yet, until now, most of them have never been available commercially. The current recorded performances by the Potomac Quartet - a collection of all nine numbered Quartets as well as several shorter pieces - will offer most listeners their first opportunity to explore and access this inexplicably neglected body of work. This immensely important release is the follow-up to the Potomac Quartet's acclaimed cycle of the David Diamond String Quartets (TROY504, 540, 613 and 727) and is the perfect supplement to Albany's equally admired disc of Porter's orchestral music (TROY 574).Quatuor Antar "Quatuor en Ré Mineur, K421" (mp3) from "Mozart: Quatuor en Ré Mineur - Chostakovitch: Quatuor No. 8" (Integral Classic) Buy at iTunes Music Store More On This Album The musicians of the Quartet Antarès combine two cultures, two different worlds in a French-Italian formation. Their various knowledge (Italy for violins, France for the viola (alto) and the cello) and the personal experience which marks each personality are being expressed in this quartet, through a great sense of balance and a genuine complicity, " Four hearts in the only thought" (Piero Farulli, Italiano Quartet).Jerusalem Quartet "String Quartet no.17 in B flat major K.458 'The Hunt'" (mp3) from "Mozart: String Quartets" (Harmonia Mundi) Buy at Amazon MP3 More On This Album Jerusalem Quartet - Chamber ensemble After two widely acclaimed Hayden releases, the Jerusalem Quartet now logically turns to an exploration of Mozart and three distinct periods in his create life. Haydn is not totally absent from this recording, since the central quartet belongs to the glorious group of six which Mozart, now firmly established in Vienna, dedicated to his elder ins 1785. Twelve years earlier, the teenage composer was still amusing himself with the Sammartinian model in the third of his 'Milanese' Quartets". Click here to read more... Panocha Quartet "String Quartet No. 12 in F major American, Op. 96 (B.179), III. Molto vivace" (mp3) from "Dvořák: The Essential String Quartet" (Supraphon a.s.) Buy at iTunes Music Store Buy at Amazon MP3 More On This Album Every work of art is exposed to the inexorable test of time. In the case of the majority of composers, precious few works enjoy enduring popularity. Yet in this respect Dvořák is one of the glorious exceptions. When it comes to his 15 string quartets alone, more than one third of them are still an integral part of the repertoire of numerous contemporary ensembles. All the mature opuses - starting with the "Slavonic" Quartet in E flat major (written for the famous Florentine Quartet) through the most celebrated, the "American", to the final opuses 106 and 105, whose musical language reflects the composer's return home from overseas - have been repeatedly explored and performed. The Panocha Quartet, whose exceptional qualities have for over four decades been acclaimed by audiences in four continents, have devoted to Czech quartet creation and Dvořák in particular with great care. This selection from the complete Dvořák works features the most beautiful quartet opuses and is a must-have for all fans of this genre. The "American" quartet and other Dvořák gems - beautiful and seminal. Hagen Quartett "String Quartet in E Minor Op. 59 / 2 - "Rasumowsky"" (mp3) from "Hagen Quartett - 30" (Myrios Classics) More On This Album The anniversary album "Hagen Quartett 30" contains new recordings of works by Beethoven, Mozart, and Webern – three composers of central importance for the ensemble. The Hagen Quartet—unchallenged at the head of the international string quartet elite for 30 years – captivates its listeners again and again. Five years have passed since the end of the group’s exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon, and now the quartet presents its first recording with myrios classics. The anniversary album, produced in the historic Siemens Villa in Berlin, contains works by Beethoven, Mozart, and Webern – three composers of central importance for the ensemble.