Help
Skip to main content

Debussy & Ravel - String Quartets

Jerusalem Quartet

Debussy & Ravel - String Quartets

Awards:

In advance, I wondered whether there was anything new to be said about these two incessantly recorded works. Happily the answer is 'yes'. Nor is it due to anything imposed - the novelty comes...

Debussy & Ravel - String Quartets

Jerusalem Quartet

Purchase product

96 kHz, 24 bit, FLAC/ALAC/WAV

$19.25

44.1 kHz, 16 bit, FLAC/ALAC/WAV

$13.75

320 kbps, MP3

$11.00

This release includes a digital booklet

Stream now Hi-RES 96 kHz, 24 bit

Awards:

In advance, I wondered whether there was anything new to be said about these two incessantly recorded works. Happily the answer is 'yes'. Nor is it due to anything imposed - the novelty comes...

About

A century after his death on 25 March 1918, many harmonia mundi artists are eager to pay tribute to Claude Debussy, the magician of melody and timbre, the great ‘colourist’ and father of modern music. The musicians of the Jerusalem Quartet offer a new reading of his only String Quartet, in the logical coupling with its Ravelian counterpart: in some respects, the two works might seem like twins – and yet what differences there are between them!

Contents and tracklist

I. Animé et très décidé
Track length6:35
II. Assez vif et bien rythmé
Track length3:56
III. Andantino, doucement expressif
Track length7:47
IV. Très modéré
Track length7:09
I. Allegro moderato
Track length8:18
II. Assez vif, très rythmé
Track length5:57
III. Très lent
Track length8:08
IV. Vif et agité
Track length5:34

Spotlight on this release

Awards and reviews

September 2018

In advance, I wondered whether there was anything new to be said about these two incessantly recorded works. Happily the answer is 'yes'. Nor is it due to anything imposed - the novelty comes quite simply from doing what it says on the tin. This disc is a superb combination of intelligence, honesty, taste and technique.

July 2018

It’s a strikingly intense performance, grand in scale, emotionally heated and dark in tone…the richness and weight of the Jerusalem Quartet’s sound spreads a pall of sensuality over the whole work, and the sweep and urgency of the phrasing create a heady immediacy throughout…It’s a fine performance, beautifully articulated and superbly played, but ultimately it’s the Debussy that is the disc’s raison d’être. It’s quite remarkable: do listen to it.

18th May 2018

As you would expect from such a seasoned group, their mastery of rubato is impressive. They move as one, and yet there is space for individual instruments to rise out of the texture when appropriate...Their group playing is spellbinding, drawing you in because of how quiet it is.
View download progress