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Special offer. Parry: Music For String Quartet

Archaeus Quartet

Parry: Music For String Quartet
The Archaeus quartet favours a quite lean collective sound, very different from the turbocharged sumptuousness of much of today’s quartet-playing, and is likeable and convincing in the earlier...

Special offer. Parry: Music For String Quartet

Archaeus Quartet

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2 CDs

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This release includes a digital booklet

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The Archaeus quartet favours a quite lean collective sound, very different from the turbocharged sumptuousness of much of today’s quartet-playing, and is likeable and convincing in the earlier...

About

Released in the 100th Anniversary year of Sir Hubert Hastings Parry's death, this is the first ever recording of his complete music for string quartet. Although the mighty Quartet no. 3 has been published and recorded once, Quartets 1&2 have languished unperformed and certainly unrecorded for many years. The early quartets are very much influenced by Mendelssohn and are quite delightful; the charming Scherzo in C, which Parry did not complete one hundred percent, is fully realized in an edition by Professor Jeremy Dibble (who also provided a performing version of Quartet no. 2), without whose invaluable help this recording would not have taken place. This double album was recorded in November 2017 in the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Salehurst, East Sussex and the recording engineer was once again the superb Tony Faulkner. This recording is an absolute must for lovers of English music but also for those who enjoy early 'Romantic' chamber music and is a fascinating document of how Parry's voice as a composer developed over the years. Utterly amazing that these pieces have been overlooked, it's now time for them to be brought out into the sunshine!

Contents and tracklist

I. Allegro con fuoco
Track length5:31
II. Andante
Track length7:06
III. Allegro vivace
Track length6:49
I. Larghetto - Allegro di molto
Track length8:27
II. Andante espressivo
Track length6:10
III. Scherzo. Allegro con brio
Track length2:50
IV. Finale. Vivace
Track length7:12
I. Allegro
Track length9:01
II. Andante
Track length6:24
III. Allegro molto
Track length7:10
IV. Allegro moderato
Track length9:45

Awards and reviews

August 2018

The Archaeus quartet favours a quite lean collective sound, very different from the turbocharged sumptuousness of much of today’s quartet-playing, and is likeable and convincing in the earlier works. Unfortunately the Third Quartet’s technical demands have the players sounding more stretched.

July 2018

The sound is transparent and natural, and these players certainly catch the music’s drama: the flashes of vibrato-free harshness in the Third Quartet’s scherzo are suitably chilling. In Parry’s anniversary year, it fills a gap in the recorded repertoire very handsomely.

Classical Music August 2018

The Archaeus Quartet play with great eloquence and charm, exuding repose in the central Andante of the First Quartet in G minor (1867). The Third Quartet of a decade later is a serious work, the compositional hand sure and Germanic in its structural integrity. There is Brahmsian warmth to the writing, though the performance is sometimes unstable, particularly in the slow movement. The Scherzo is a sort of stiffupper-lipped Mendelssohn.
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