Camille Saint-Saëns - String Quartets (Fine Arts Quartet)

Information

Composer: Camille Saint-Saëns

1. String Quartet No. 1 in E minor, Op. 112: I. Allegro
2. String Quartet No. 1 in E minor, Op. 112: II. Molto allegro quasi presto
3. String Quartet No. 1 in E minor, Op. 112: III. Molto adagio
4. String Quartet No. 1 in E minor, Op. 112: IV. Allegro non troppo
5. String Quartet No. 2 in G major, Op. 153: I. Allegro animato
6. String Quartet No. 2 in G major, Op. 153: II. Molto adagio - Andantino
7. String Quartet No. 2 in G major, Op. 153: III. Interlude et finale. Andantino - Allegretto con moto

Fine Arts Quartet
Ralph Evans, violin
Efim Boico, violin
Nicolò Eugelmi, viola

Wolfgang Laufer, cello

Date: 2009
Label: Naxos
http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572454

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Review

The Fine Arts Quartet continue their admirable series (Beethoven, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Bruckner, Franck and Fauré) with Saint-Saëns’s two string quartets. And here they make a persuasive case for music that is not only “brilliantly crafted” but “serious and intellectual” (their leader Ralph Evans). Certainly the First Quartet in E minor in particular is a reminder of music beyond the elegant facility with which Saint-Saëns is habitually credited. He may have “produced music as an apple tree produces apples” (his own words) but later in his life the string quartet provided him with a special challenge.

There is urgency as well as charm, and an expressive range that makes Fauré’s lifelong admiration understandable. The first-movement development is intricate and dramatic, and the second movement’s syncopation is again urgent rather than lightweight. There is major-key relief in the Second Quartet, composed in the spirit of Mozart and with the first movement’s celebration of youth clouded by an awareness of old age in the Molto adagio – Andantino (with his typically dry humour, Saint-Saëns dismissed it as “deadly dull”). But there is nothing dull about the Fine Arts’ playing. Excellently balanced and recorded, they bring fervour and commitment to music which will cause many listeners to reconsider Saint-Saëns’s musical standing.

-- Bruce Morrison, Gramophone

More reviews:

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2011/May11/SaintSaens_qts_8572454.htm

http://www.allmusic.com/album/saint-sa%C3%ABns-string-quartets-mw0002126118

http://www.amazon.com/Saint-Sa%C3%ABns-String-Quartets-Camille/dp/B004OZRP6O

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Camille Saint-Saëns (9 October 1835 – 16 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic era. His best-known works include his concertos for violin, piano and cello, his 3rd symphony, Danse macabre and The Carnival of the Animals. Saint-Saëns was a musical prodigy, making his concert debut at the age of ten. He held only one teaching post for less than five years. His students included Gabriel Fauré.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camille_Saint-Sa%C3%ABns

***

The Fine Arts Quartet is a chamber music ensemble founded in Chicago, United States in 1946 by Leonard Sorkin and George Sopkin. Since 1963, the Quartet has recorded and toured internationally for over half a century, making it one of the longest enduring major string quartets. In its history, the Quartet has had two leaders: Sorkin, from 1946 to 1981, and Ralph Evans, from 1982 to the present.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fine_Arts_Quartet
http://fineartsquartet.com/

-------------------------------------------------------------------

FLAC, tracks

Links in comment

Enjoy!