Kurtag & Dvorak (CD)

On their ECM New series debut, the Boston-based Parker Quartet, hailed by the Washington Post for “exceptional virtuosity and imaginative interpretation,” play music of György Kurtág and are joined by violist Kim Kashkashian, one of the quarter’s early mentors, to play Dvořák.

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In this powerful programme of contrasts, Dvořák’s outgoing String Quintet No. 3, composed in America in 1893, is framed by two of Kurtág’s concentrated, meticulously-shaped works – the Six Moments musicaux (2005) and the Officium breve in memoriam Andreae Szervánszky (1988/89). Throughout, the Parker Quartet’s feeling for colour and texture is in evidence. The quartet’s insights into Kurtág’s soundworld have been developed through extensive work with the Hungarian composer. The album was recorded at Zürich’s Radio DRS Studio.

TRACK LIST

GYÖRGY KURTÁG - MOMENTS MUSICAUX OP.44
Invocatio [un fragment]
Footfalls ... mintha valaki jönne ...
Capriccio
In memoriam Sebõk György
Rappel des oiseaux... [Étude pour les harmoniques]
Les adieux [in Janáceks Manier]

ANTONÍN DVORÁK - STRING QUINTET NO.3 IN EB MAJOR OP.97
Allegro non tanto
Scherzo, Allegro vivace
Larghetto
Finale, Allegro giusto

GYÖRGY KURTÁG - OFFICIUM BREVE IN MEMORIAM ANDREAE SZERVÁNSZKY, OP.28
Largo
Più andante
Sostenuto, quasi giusto
Grave, molto sostenuto
(Fantasie über die Harmonien des Webern-Kanons) Presto
(Canon a 4) Molto agitato
Canon a 2 (frei, nach op.31/VI von Webern) Sehr fliessend
Lento
Largo
[Webern: Kanon a 4 (op.31/VI)] Sehr fliessend
Sostenuto
Sostenuto, quasi giusto
Sostenuto, con slancio
Disperato, vivo