Search - Alban Berg, Leos Janacek, Juilliard String Quartet :: Intimate Letters

Great all-around disc.

Karl Henzy | 12/19/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a great disc. The Berg quartet, Lyric Suite, is of course one of the greatest string quartets of the century, absolutely bursting with musical ideas. It's said to be incredibly difficult to play, but the Julliard Quartet are just such superb musicians, they handle it masterfully. Also, the Janacek Quartets are really beautiful."

Dramatic, fabulous 20th century chamber music

Alejandra Vernon | Long Beach, California | 07/09/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"One doesn't have to know the history of Janacek's String Quartet # 1 to understand its meaning; upon the first hearing one is struck by the light/dark, man/woman tension, the violin's nervous anxiety, the cello's dark rage. It is a fascinating, brilliant piece, inspired by Leo Tolstoy's story, "The Kreutzer Sonata", which of course was named after Beethoven's violin sonata.
Less dramatic and almost as good is Janacek's String Quartet # 2, written for Kamila Stosslova, and originally titled "Love Letters", later changed to "Intimate Letters" in order to be less obvious.More abstract, but even more marvelous is Alban Berg's Lyric Suite; it is immensely expressive and romantic, with increasing desperation with each succeeding movement. There are moments of luminous beauty that take my breath away.
The Juilliard String Quartet (Robert Mann, violin 1 ~ Joel Smirnoff, violin 2 ~ Samuel Rhodes, viola ~ Joel Krosnick, cello) are superb. I can't imagine a better performance of these chamber music masterpieces.
The recordings were done in 1989 for the Janacek # 2, and 1995 for the Janacek # 1 and the Berg. The sound is excellent and total playing time is 77'10."