Search - Antonin Dvorak, Cleveland Quartet :: Antonin Dvorak: Quartets Nos. 12 & 14

From America, With Love

eido | 09/29/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There is a plethora of recordings of Dvorak's American Quartet to choose from, and many of them are quite good. This is the one that I like the best-- the playing is technically flawless-- very polished (this really comes out during the vigorous finale of the American). The work as a composition is wonderful because it brings together a number of different sounds, from the bubbly first, through the languid second movement, to the vivacious finale. The third movement is quirky and quite catchy. According to Dvorak himself, it is based on the song of a bird which pestered him during his composition of the work. (For those ornithology/musicology enthusiasts out there: in Dvorak's words, it was "a damned bird (red, only with black wings)." As far as I can make out, from where he was in America (Spillville, Iowa), the bird must have been the Scarlet Tanenger.) All in all, the combination of the wonderful piece with the lovely playing makes this disk a must-have. The A flat major quartet also included on the disk is interesting and well played-- though not, perhaps, the greatest work of Dvorak. It does not detract from the CD. You will be hard pressed to find a better recording of these works."