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Label:
  Praga Digitals - http://www.pragadigitals.com/
Serial:
  PRD/DSD 250 205
Title:
  Martinu: String Quartets Nos. 2, 4 & 5 - Kocian Quartet
Description:
  Martinu: String Quartets Nos. 2, 4 & 5

Kocian Quartet
Track listing:
 
Genre:
  Classical - Chamber
Content:
  Stereo/Multichannel
Media:
  Hybrid
Recording type:
  DSD
Recording info:
 

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Related titles: 7 show all


 
Reviews: 2

Review by georgeflanagin November 7, 2006 (11 of 11 found this review helpful)
Performance:   Sonics:  
ADHD Summary: This is the finest string quartet SACD that I have yet heard, and "finest" should be construed to include the playing, the repertoire, and the recording. The sound is amazingly lifelike, yet there is a chance you will not like it, so read on.

Review
******

[1] The Music

This disc presents three of the seven numbered string quartets by Martinů. I am unsure if these three were chosen because they were thought to be the best, or if this a part of a sequence of discs intended to cover them all. Regardless of the motivation, the three quartets present a reasonable sampling of Martinů's work in this medium.

The three works are from 1925, 1937, and 1938, and they reflect what I think of as Martinů's middle period: ethnic melodies, slightly edgy harmonies, and conventional forms. I am pleased to hear a first rate performance and recording of something that is not Beethoven.

Let me admit now that Martinů is one of my favorite composers of the first half of the twentieth century, and I have a reasonable number of discs of his music. A casual listener may be most familiar with symphonies #1 and #4, both of which are from the later "USA" period. This disc will sound less familiar if those two pieces are the listener's benchmark.

[2] The performance and the competition

You may ask, "There is competition?" Yes, there is. The most immediate and affordable competition comes from the Martinů Quartet which recorded all seven as well as some odds and ends on three discs with Naxos in the late 1990s. While they are good performances and full, lush recordings, they are not in the same league with the performances on this Praga Digitals disc.

The opening movement of Quartet #2 and the second movement of Quartet #5 are the best ones to illustrate the differences. The Kocian Quartet sounds powerful, together, and most importantly for the music of Martinů, at ease with Martinů's idiom that combines folk-like melodies with 20th century composition.

I shall not get into a movement-by-movement comparison with other recordings, primarily because my hunch is that this will be new music to many listeners, and few listeners will have even one other recording, let alone two. Let us say instead that the Praga disc is a wonderful introduction to Martinů's less public side, and you will not be disappointed.

[3] The sound

(Note: Unlike my Shostakovich 8 review from last week, all listening for the purpose of this review was done with the Quad electronics, and without the subwoofer. Since the lowest note produced by the 'cello is the C two octaves below middle C, I cannot see how it comes into play. The Quad 988s reach at least the F below the 'cello's lowest note.)

This recording was done in the Domovina Studio in Prague, which is the same venue used by Praga for the Pražák Quartet's Beethoven cycle. While the Beethoven Quartets have "good" sound, the recording under discussion here is astonishing. I cannot say what is different: the microphones? the room within the studio? Yet, the Martinů recording is superior in all the usual audiophile ways.

The space in which the recording was made comes across well, and the reflections off the rear walls in the studio add a surround sound experience to even the two channel SACD recording. The recording is fully detailed without putting us through the experience of "every breath they take," to paraphrase Sting.

I simply could not tear myself away from the recording. I played it over and over. The pieces of music are old friends, yet I was hearing them for the first time. I listened also on the Sennheiser HD650 headphones, and then again on the Celestion SL700SE / Naim system upstairs. I can only hope that this recording transports you into Martinů's music the way that I was transported. I am surprised my disc has any pits left on it.

Bottom Line:
***********

I mentioned you might not like the music. There are some listeners who find non-functional harmony to be unenjoyable. You will find much of it in these opus by Martinů. You probably will not come out of the listening experience humming the tunes; and that will be your loss.

This is the first disc about which I have no reservations. Your money will be well spent.

George Kelly Flanagin

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Review by JJ June 6, 2007 (2 of 5 found this review helpful)
Performance:   Sonics:    
Auteur de près de 400 œuvres dans tous les genres musicaux, le compositeur tchèque Bohuslav Martinu, venant de quitter Prague, vécu à Paris durant plus de quinze ans et découvrit un véritable maître en la personne d’Albert Roussel. C’est sous son influence que l’élève affirma sa personnalité et composa ses œuvres majeures. Parmi elles, la musique de chambre trouva son importance avec notamment 7 quatuors à cordes que Martinu édifia dans un bonheur extrême : « Je ne saurais exprimer la joie qui m’envahit lorsque je me mets à composer de la musique de chambre, à conduire ces quatre voix… Le Quatuor — voilà ce qui me fait sentir comme chez moi, me rend heureux au plus profond —… dehors il pleut, le soir tombe, mais les quatre voix n’en ont cure, elles sont indépendantes, libres, font ce que bon leur semble et forment pourtant un ensemble cohérent, elles constituent comme une nouvelle entité, un tout naturellement harmonieux – je souligne ce point car c’est précieux en ce moment et dans le monde ». Cette lettre est datée de 1946 alors que le compositeur tchèque était parti pour New-York. Le Kocian Quartet explore les partitions des quatuors à cordes N°2, 4 et 5 avec une ferveur absolument miraculeuse. Sous leurs archets, ces œuvres délivrent des couleurs, des tonalités, un chant, une ivresse uniques. D’une précision infaillible, les Kocian réinventent littéralement, dans sa diversité et la richesse de son évocation, le monde intime d’un compositeur d’une indéniable profondeur d’âme. Dans une prise de sons en pur DSD digne d’éloge, ce Super Audio CD est un indispensable incontournable.

Jean-Jacques Millo

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Works: 3  

Bohuslav Martinu - String Quartet No. 2, H 150
Bohuslav Martinu - String Quartet No. 4, H 256
Bohuslav Martinu - String Quartet No. 5, H 268