Giuseppe Verdi; Richard Strauss - String Quartets (Delmé Quartet)

Information

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi; Richard Strauss

• (01) Verdi - String Quartet in E minor
• (05) Strauss - String Quartet in A major, Op. 2

Delmé Quartet
Galina Solodchin, violin
John Trusler, violin
John Underwood, viola
Robert Bailey, cello

Date: 1988
Label: Hyperion
https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDH55012

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

Review

Richard Strauss's only quartet was written when he was a teenager, at a time when his knowledge of music was confined to the classics. The innocent ear might imagine it was composed by Mendelssohn or even young Beethoven on an off day. The outer movements are written in all-too-strict sonata form, the Scherzo is appealing in a Mendelssohnian way and the Andante cantabile, not much liked by commentators, seems to me the most attractive and heartfelt movement. The performance by the Delme is both accomplished and committed with the four strings finely balanced and, individually, full of character and brio. The work couldn't ask for better advocacy.

The Verdi, which seems to be appealing to more and more groups, receives another confident reading but not one that eclipses the merits of the others listed above. I am troubled here by the excessive vibrato of the first violin and a slight edginess on her tone emphasized by the recording, a feature I know to be less intrusive in the concert hall. The performance is rather bigger in scale than its rivals, but here I don't think the group provides quite such an integrated sound as does the Accardo quartet on Dynamic/Pinnacle. The actual sound is for my liking too reverberant; I much prefer the more intimate acoustic on the Accardo disc. However, the coupling is a sensible one and in any case, if you want the Strauss, you have no alternative. Some may feel, as I do, that 53 minutes' music on a CD is beginning to seem short measure. There is an informative note by Richard Wigmore.

-- Alan Blyth, Gramophone

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

Giuseppe Verdi (9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer. Born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, Verdi came to dominate the Italian opera scene after the era of Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini, whose works significantly influenced him, and became one of the pre-eminent opera composers of the late nineteenth century. His operas remain extremely popular, especially the three peaks of his 'middle period': Rigoletto, Il trovatore and La traviata, and are frequently staged around the world. All of his operas are available in recordings in a number of versions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Verdi

***

Richard Strauss (11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, lieder, tone poems and other orchestral works. Strauss was also a prominent conductor throughout Germany and Austria, enjoying quasi-celebrity status as his compositions became standards of orchestral and operatic repertoire. Strauss made a large number of recordings, both of his own music as well as music by German and Austrian composers. Along with Gustav Mahler, Strauss represents the late flowering of German Romanticism after Richard Wagner.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Strauss

***

The Delmé Quartet was conceived in a taxi travelling over London Bridge in 1962 by Granville Delmé Jones and Jurgen Hess (violins), John Underwood (viola) and Joy Hall (cello). Galina Solodchin joined the quartet in the late 1960s after the death of Granville Jones. John Trusler and Jonathan Williams joined the quartet in the mid-’70s. John Underwood is therefore the sole remaining foundermember. Over the past four decades the Delmé has appeared at most major European festivals. The quartet’s collaboration with a number of notable composers is well known, particularly that with the late Robert Simpson.
http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/a.asp?a=A102

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

FLAC, tracks

Links in comment

Enjoy!