MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

Buy through MusicWeb
for £12 postage paid World-wide.

Musicweb Purchase button

Sound Samples and Downloads

Emil Nikolaus von REZNIČEK (1860-1945)
String Quartet No.1 in C sharp minor (1921) [29:10]
Erich Wolfgang KORNGOLD (1897-1957)
String Quartet No.1 in A major Op.16 (1922-23) [33:33]
Franz Schubert Quartet of Vienna
rec. January 1996, Concert Hall, Nimbus Foundation
NIMBUS NI 5506 [62:58]

Experience Classicsonline



 
The Franz Schubert Quartet of Vienna was active in the Nimbus studios in the 1990s recording music from its home town. This coupling of Rezniček and Korngold was unique; indeed still is. Not only is the programming exploratory, it also presents two quartets written almost contemporaneously, but by two very different composers of differing generations.
 
Korngold’s First Quartet in A major, which he began to sketch at Christmas 1920, very soon after having completed Die tote Stadt, wasn’t finished however until early 1923. It’s a remarkable work in many ways, the longest of the three that he was to write, and notable for its unsettled chromaticism and refulgent lyric impulse. Korngold’s acute ear for tension and contrast ensures that the slow movement’s generosity of feeling is not wholly untroubled but this Adagio, quasi Fantasia is a hothouse of beauty nonetheless. The Intermezzo is a panache-filled affair but also marked mit Grazie. For the finale he employs his own motto theme (‘The Motif of the cheerful heart’) and seemingly effortlessly vocalised phrases that are profuse in their attractiveness.
 
The Franz Schubert is consistently slower than the recent recording made by the Doric, on Chandos. They also prefer a more heated tonal response, and a deeper and more consistently expressive vibrato. Their unisons are strong and powerful as a result, though it means that the playing can sound a touch generically expressive from time to time. The Doric play with great refinement and energy, and are lighter tonally and more incisive rhythmically. The best performance of the quartet I’ve heard, however, more incisive than either, comes from the Aron Quartet on CPO 777436-2 [a 2 CD set of all three quartets which also includes the Piano Quintet].

The Korngold was premiered by Vienna’s leading quartet, the Rosé. Rezniček’s was dedicated to, and probably premiered by, the Klingler, another elite group of its time. The ethos here is late nineteenth century, strong, modal, confidently written. Like Korngold, Rezniček was a highly gifted lyricist as the slow movement demonstrates, though his work, though often urgent, lacks the younger man’s sense of quicksilver, often elusive, centre of gravity. The charming, gracious scherzo – it’s not called a scherzo, but is one, in effect – pays court subtly to the Viennese waltz whilst the finale, which opens intensely, offers a highly satisfactory end to a well constructed work.
 
It too is played with rich, burnished tone and a rhythmic relaxation which strikes me as a touch more appropriate than in the Korngold.
 
Jonathan Woolf

see also review by Nick Barnard
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.