A belated thank you for your support, Antonio.

Saturday, June 4, 2016

Antonín Dvořák - Piano Quartet No. 2; Sonatina in G; Romantic Pieces (Emanuel Ax; Isaac Stern)


Information

Composer: Antonín Dvořák
  1. Piano Quartet No. 2 in E flat major, Op. 87: I. Allegro con fuoco
  2. Piano Quartet No. 2 in E flat major, Op. 87: II. Lento
  3. Piano Quartet No. 2 in E flat major, Op. 87: III. Allegro moderato, grazioso
  4. Piano Quartet No. 2 in E flat major, Op. 87: IV. Finale. Allegro, ma non troppo
  5. Romantic Pieces for violin & piano, Op. 75: I. Allegro moderato
  6. Romantic Pieces for violin & piano, Op. 75: II. Allegro maestoso
  7. Romantic Pieces for violin & piano, Op. 75: III. Allegro appassionato
  8. Romantic Pieces for violin & piano, Op. 75: IV. Larghetto
  9. Sonatina in G major for violin & piano, Op. 100: I. Allegro risoluto
  10. Sonatina in G major for violin & piano, Op. 100: II. Larghetto
  11. Sonatina in G major for violin & piano, Op. 100: III. Scherzo: Molto vivace
  12. Sonatina in G major for violin & piano, Op. 100: IV. Finale: Allegro

Emanuel Ax, piano (1-4)
Isaac Stern, violin (1-12)
Jaime Laredo, viola (1-4)
Yo-Yo Ma, cello (1-4)
Robert McDonald, piano (5-12)
Label: Sony Classical
Date: 1996

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Review

Inspired teamwork in the Piano Quartet and a prime sampling of Stern’s ‘Indian summer’ playing style


Although released some 11 months after Teldec’s deservedly praised Andras Schiff/Panocha Quartet recording, this ‘new’ Sony production of the great E flat Piano Quartet actually predates the Schiff CD by 17 months. Whatever the reason for the delay, the end result fully matches its rival, although it is perhaps rather less natural in terms of overall aural perspective: Sony’s close-miked recorded balance is in contrast to the recital-hall sound stage favoured by Teldec.

Schiff is a more colourful player than Emanuel Ax (occasionally to the point of affectation), but Ax’s crisp, dancing pianism is just as effective and his handling of the assertive episodes in the first two movements never stints on drama. The Czech strings are marginally sweeter than their American counterparts, the Americans more gently inflected, whereas Yo-Yo Ma’s handling of the winding melody that opens the second movement has an achromatic, inward quality that is uniquely distinctive. Schiff’s recording honours the finale’s repeat (Ax’s doesn’t) but neither team opts to play the long exposition repeat in the first movement.

Teldec’s near-ideal coupling of Dvorak’s Second Piano Quintet – also the choice of Menahem Pressler with the Emerson Quartet (another fine disc) – will please economy-conscious collectors who require the two masterpieces on the same CD. Domus and Josef Suk offer the likeable but less memorable First Piano Quartet. Both discs feature fine performances (Domus’s is the more intimately stated option), but it would be a great shame to miss out on Stern’s Indian summer recordings of the two violin works, especially as Robert McDonald’s accompaniments are models of discreet musical reportage. I’ve never heard the piano parts of either work more perceptively played, though Stern’s melding of impishness and tonal chastity is no less seductive. A sparing use of portamento signals his vintage pedigree, though expressive overkill is never on the agenda. Only the Sonatina’s Scherzo might have benefited from being pushed up a notch or two in tempo (it is after all marked molto vivace), but the Larghetto is most poetically addressed, and the last of the Romantic Pieces tellingly sustained. True, the tonal grain in Stern’s playing was tougher a few years earlier, but the gain in wisdom and repose more than compensates. Strongly recommended.

-- Rob Cowan, Gramophone

More reviews:
ClassicsToday ARTISTIC QUALITY: 10 / SOUND QUALITY: 8
BBC Music Magazine PERFORMANCE: ***** / SOUND: *****

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Antonín Dvořák (September 8, 1841 – May 1, 1904) was a Czech composer. Following the nationalist example of Bedřich Smetana, Dvořák frequently employed aspects, specifically rhythms, of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. He wrote nine symphonies, ten operas, three concertos, several symphonic poems and more than 40 works of chamber music.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton%C3%ADn_Dvo%C5%99%C3%A1k

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Emanuel Ax (born 8 June 1949) is a Grammy-winning American classical pianist. He is an internationally acclaimed performer, and a teacher on the faculty of the Juilliard School. Ax has been the main duo recital partner of cellist Yo-Yo Ma since 1973. Ax also played quartets briefly with Ma and violinists Isaac Stern and Jaime Laredo before the quartet had to disband in 2001 due to the death of Stern.

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Isaac Stern (21 July 1920 – 22 September 2001) was an American violinist and conductor. Within musical circles, Stern became renowned both for his recordings and for championing certain younger players. Among his discoveries were cellists Yo-Yo Ma and Jian Wang, and violinists Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman. Stern's favorite instrument was the Ysaÿe Guarnerius, one of the violins produced by the Cremonese luthier Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù. It had previously been played by the violin virtuoso and composer Eugène Ysaÿe.

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