Fine Arts Quartet, Philharmonic Orchestra of Europe, Otis Klober - Kreisler, Zimbalist, Ysaye: String Quartets (2011)

Tracklist

01. String Quartet in A minor: I. Fantasia: Moderato - Allegro moderato
02. String Quartet in A minor: II. Scherzo
03. String Quartet in A minor: III. Einleitung and Romanze: Allegretto - Andante con moto
04. String Quartet in A minor: IV. Retrospection
05. String Quartet in E minor: I. Moderato
06. String Quartet in E minor: II. Con brio
07. String Quartet in E minor: III. Andante con moto
08. String Quartet in E minor: IV. Allegro di molto
09. Harmonies du soir, Op. 31

The legendary Fritz Kreisler and his friend Efrem Zimbalist were both ranked among the greatest violinists of their time, becoming household names in America in the 1920s. Their generation, however, regarded Eugène Ysaÿe as ‘the master of us all’. These works all transcend mere virtuoso showmanship. Kreisler’s Quartet is filled with emotion and unpredictable harmonic shifts, while the tender, sometimes hauntingly beautiful melodies in Zimbalist’s Quartet hark back to the composer’s Russian origins. Ysaÿe’s Harmonies du soir emerges as a sensual chromatic journey towards a glorious musical sunrise.

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