Day 240: Music for String Ensembles II

BeethovenCD45For the first time in awhile, the Suske Quartett isn’t performing for my listening pleasure.

On today’s CD, there two sets of musicians.

The first is:

Zurich String Quintet (Tracks 1-8)

Boris Livschitz violin
Matyas Bartha violin
Zvi Livschitz violas
Dominik Ostertag violas
Mikayel Hakhnazaryan cello

The second is:

Perez Quartet (Tracks 9-13)

Carolina Kurkowski Perez violin I
Clemens Schuldt violin II
Alexander Kiss viola
Chiho Takata viola (track 13)
Simon Deffner cello

The compositions are:

String Quintet in E Flat Op. 4

Fugue in D Op. 137

Duet in E Flat Wo032

The first one – String Quintet in E Flat Op. 4 – is quite nice. Sprightly. Movement IV (“Finale: Presto”) is especially refreshing, given all of the more ponderous quartets and quintets lately.

And, for a really nice shot in the arm, Fugue in D Op. 137 can’t be beat. Give me a good fugue any day and I’m a happy guy.

Also of great interest to me is Track 11, which is “Prelude and Fugue in C Hess 31 for string quartet.” Most of the duets in the last composition are fun to listen to.