Cleveland Quartet - Barber- String Quartet, Op. 11 - Ives- String Quartet No. 2 & Scherzo (2023 Remastered) (2023) [24/192]

Immediately upon their debut at the 1969 Marlboro Festival, four brilliant young American musicians calling themselves the Cleveland Quartet were hailed as a chamber ensemble of exceptional quality. Over the next quarter century, they performed on every continent, including nearly 30 complete Beethoven cycles in the US and Europe. At their peak, the Cleveland Quartet gave more than 100 concerts a year. They became the first classical artists to play on the televised Grammy awards and performed at the White House for President’s Carter inauguration.

“A quartet in the great tradition,” declared Stereo Review’scritic, commenting on the Cleveland’s Beethoven for RCA Victor, their exclusive label between 1972 and 1987. Most of the ensemble’s recordings for RCA had never appeared on CD. Sony Classical is pleased to offer ten critically acclaimed individual albums as single albums (not a box-set).

The earliest entry, first released in 1973, comprises the three Brahms quartets, idiomatic performances that Gramophone’s enthusiastic reviewer heard as “suffused with a warm and mellow light. Scrupulous attention is given to every detail and yet lyrical phrases are allowed their head. … There is no other complete set of these three works that effectively rivals this new recording.”

The same magazine also acclaimed the next Cleveland release, Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden”: “I know of no string quartet with more sumptuous tone than the Cleveland. Their style of music-making is equally generous: they squeeze the last drop of expression out of every bar. … The recording is excellent in catching their tonal body and bloom.”

TRACKLIST

1. Cleveland Quartet - I. Molto allegro e appassionato (2023 Remastered Version)
2. Cleveland Quartet - II. Molto adagio (2023 Remastered Version)
3. Cleveland Quartet - III. Molto allegro (2023 Remastered Version)
4. Cleveland Quartet - I. Discussions. Andante moderato - Andante con spirito - Adagio molto (2023 Remastered Version)
5. Cleveland Quartet - II. Arguments. Allegro con spirito (2023 Remastered Version)
6. Cleveland Quartet - III. The Call of the Mountains. Adagio - Andante - Adagio (2023 Remastered Version)
7. Cleveland Quartet - Scherzo for String Quartet (2023 Remastered Version)



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