Dorian Sono Luminus
DSL-90905
string quartets
Op.9/4 Op.17/3 Op.17/5
THE SMITHSON STRING QUARTET
“Haydn's quartets and symphonies, his oratorios and church pieces, please equally on the Danube and on the Thames, on the Seine and on the Neva, and are as treasured across the seas as they are in our own part of the world. Original and abundant ideas, deep feeling, fantasy wisely controlled by penetrating study of the art, skill in the development of an idea basically simple, calculation of effect by clever distribution of light and shadow, pouring forth of the slyest humor, and easy flow and free movement: these are the qualities that distinguish Haydn's earliest and latest productions alike.” Georg August Griesinger made an astute assessment when he began his 1810 biography of Haydn with the above observation.
The Smithson String Quartet was, during its fourteen-year residency (1982-1996) as part of the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society, the pre-eminent American-based quartet performing the great classical and early romantic repertoire on original instruments. The Quartet took its name from James Smithson, whose 1829 bequest “to the United States of America, to found at Washington, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men” made possible the creation of the Smithsonian Institution - the United States National Museum - in 1846. The present disk contains performances never before released.
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Quartet in D Minor, Op. 9, No. 4 (Hob, III: 22) ( 1.) Moderato 7:22 ( 2.) Menuet, Allegretto 4:29 ( 3.) Largo 5:32 ( 4.) Finale, Presto 4:13 Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 17, No. 3 (Hob. III: 27) ( 5.) Andante grazioso 8:l7 ( 6.) Menuet, Allegretto 3:36 ( 7.) Adagio 8:46 ( 8.) Finale, Allegro di molto 3:53 Quartet in G Major, Op. 17, No. 5 (Hob. III: 29) ( 9.) Moderato 9:30 (10.) Menuet, Allegretto 2:38 (11.) Adagio 5:15 (12.) Finale, Presto 3:39 |
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