Amazon.co.uk allows you to pay for your items in your local currency. Restrictions apply. Learn More. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s
Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or
view the MP3 Album.
|
Product Description
BBC Music Magazine
Chief among many virtues possessed by the Belcea Quartet is the players' youth: they formed in 1994 and are still in their twenties. They do not sound - as some quartets do - as if they have spent the last 40 years hawking around the same pieces of standard repertoire. From the first notes of the Debussy Quartet, one is impressed by the freshness and urgency of their playing. They play the piece not with the assumption that we have all heard it a hundred times, but as if it were a new discovery they were excited about and were desperate to make a case for. Consequently it lives: its colours are vivid and reveal subtle shades we have forgotten about if we ever saw them before.
Between the Debussy and an equally striking Ravel Quartet, the Belcea demonstrates its versatility in Dutilleux's quartet Ainsi la nuit..., where spectral sparseness and melodramatic expressionism are moulded into a coherent whole.
Beyond its youth, the Belcea would not have notched up its impressive list of competition wins if its musicians didn't play with exemplary intonation, and if each was not capable of magically traversing back and forth between foreground and background. The ensemble's plan to record Brahms and Janácek instead of following the stale Shostakovich route is an exciting prospect and is certain to give rise to eager anticipation. The Sixties had the Quartetto Italiano's famous recording; we are fortunate enough to have this from the Belcea.
Performance *****
Sound *****
© BBC Music Magazine 2001
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
44 of 47 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This review must, I suppose, serve two purposes. If on the one hand you do not know the Ravel or Debussy string quartets, buy this cd immediately. This is music of the highest quality, written by composers at the height of their powers, which demonstrates their unique gifts for melody and colour.
For those who might be comparing different discs, then I can make the same recommendation as above, and without the slightest reservation. The Belcea Quartet are one of the most talented new groups performing this repertoire, and they are rapidly establishing themselves as serious competition for the older and more famous groups out there. This is an excellent performance.
For those who might be comparing different discs, then I can make the same recommendation as above, and without the slightest reservation. The Belcea Quartet are one of the most talented new groups performing this repertoire, and they are rapidly establishing themselves as serious competition for the older and more famous groups out there. This is an excellent performance.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
yes this cd is certainly recommended for fine, vibrant yet nuanced performances by one of the current young quartets "du jour" - namely the Belcea Qrt. most fans of classical music should already have a copy of the Debussy + Ravel quartets (there are many other very fine vesions by amongst others - the Quartetto Italian, Melos, i also have the Tokyo Quartet version) as harmonically innovative + fairly lush early 20th C quartet works by two of the master composers and the Belcea's play these works with plenty of panache.
what attracted me to this cd when i bought it some five or so years ago, was the curiousity of the newly emerging Belcea Quartet (hence the EMI debut series mark) at budget price, but also of the far less well known late 20thC fellow french composer Henri Dutilleux. his solitary quartet was performed + rehearsed in the prescence of the Composer in the Belcea's student days + therefore the performance here (much like the Fitzwilliams did for Shostakovich) brings an extra level of authenticity . The Dutilleux quartet "Ainsi la Nuit" from 1976 is worthy of people's attention certainly, although is fairly typical of late modernist composition with a complex labrynthine contruction with a whole host of arresting effects (pizzicato, high harmonics, contrasting dynamics etc) resulting in a difficult but fascinating work that repays closer + repeated listens. it still sounds Gallic (just) in its refined use of harmonic material but far less approachable than the Ravel or Debussy works sharing soundworlds roughly similar to Bartok,Ligeti or Ades . not an easy listen but rewarding all the same + a welcome addition to the French quartet canon that makes this cd release rather more valuable.
overall - recommended alone for the fine playing + inclusion of the rare Dutilleux.
what attracted me to this cd when i bought it some five or so years ago, was the curiousity of the newly emerging Belcea Quartet (hence the EMI debut series mark) at budget price, but also of the far less well known late 20thC fellow french composer Henri Dutilleux. his solitary quartet was performed + rehearsed in the prescence of the Composer in the Belcea's student days + therefore the performance here (much like the Fitzwilliams did for Shostakovich) brings an extra level of authenticity . The Dutilleux quartet "Ainsi la Nuit" from 1976 is worthy of people's attention certainly, although is fairly typical of late modernist composition with a complex labrynthine contruction with a whole host of arresting effects (pizzicato, high harmonics, contrasting dynamics etc) resulting in a difficult but fascinating work that repays closer + repeated listens. it still sounds Gallic (just) in its refined use of harmonic material but far less approachable than the Ravel or Debussy works sharing soundworlds roughly similar to Bartok,Ligeti or Ades . not an easy listen but rewarding all the same + a welcome addition to the French quartet canon that makes this cd release rather more valuable.
overall - recommended alone for the fine playing + inclusion of the rare Dutilleux.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Transparent Quintessentially French Sound from the Belcea Quartet
20 Sep 2005
Format:Audio CD
The Belcea Quartet is one of the strongest of the relatively new chamber ensembles coming before the public today. Just a glance at the catalogue and the spectrum of music they tackle is impressive - Brahms, Schubert, Britten, Ades, Faure, Poulenc and now Ravel, Debussy and Dutilleux. They are an exciting ensemble.
The performances here of both the well-known string quartets of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel are clean, free of excessive emoting, and transparent in the best sense of the word. The phrasing continuity among the instruments is seamless and in the tutti sections the sound is sonorous and never pushed. These are both very fine performances.
Added to this generous CD is the 'Ainsi la nuit' by Henri Dutilleux, a work not known to this listener but one that begs re-hearing. The quartet writing is clever, innovative and never less than interesting. It does seem to go on a bit long (twelve movements) but it is well worth studying. Recommended Recording. Grady Harp, September 05
The performances here of both the well-known string quartets of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel are clean, free of excessive emoting, and transparent in the best sense of the word. The phrasing continuity among the instruments is seamless and in the tutti sections the sound is sonorous and never pushed. These are both very fine performances.
Added to this generous CD is the 'Ainsi la nuit' by Henri Dutilleux, a work not known to this listener but one that begs re-hearing. The quartet writing is clever, innovative and never less than interesting. It does seem to go on a bit long (twelve movements) but it is well worth studying. Recommended Recording. Grady Harp, September 05
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Absolutely Superb Ravel
11 April 2010
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I just heard this on XM Radio, and I'm ordering it. I know the Ravel quartet very well, and I already have several recordings of it. But this was extraordinary. Technically perfect. Rich, mellow, and swinging. I never heard of this group before, but I will be looking for their other performances.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
|
|
![Double Decca [10]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61AlFZVU3BL._AA60_.jpg)
![EMI Masters [1]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/519nWYXXxuL._AA60_.jpg)
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
