Duke Quartet - Barber, Dvorak, Glass (1993) CD-Rip

It was an imaginative idea to flank Dvorak's Czech-flavoured, turn-of-the-century view of the American outdoors with a pair of twentieth-century American quartets—the one, a passionate essay in musical dialogue, the other, a fairly radical study in proto-minimalism. There's an additional 'theme' in that Dvorak nourished his F major Quartet with 'American Indian-style' tunes and Glass flavoured his Quartet No. 1 with suggestions of Asian Indian music (for example, pizzicato cello glissandos)...I enjoyed it a great deal and felt that the Duke Quartet enjoyed it too. The Barber Quartet has the now highly popular Adagio at its core, yet its restless, rather Ivesian outer movements are hardly less attractive. Listening to it after the Dvorak highlights an honesty, sincerity and melodic sense common to both works, although Dvorak's easy tunefulness and breezy structure bespeak extra experience and a far more distinctive style. The Duke Quartet's performances are pert and lively...the Glass isn't otherwise available (at least not in this country) and its present programming context makes for a most engaging hour's listening.