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Good News for Diamond Enthusiasts

Christopher Forbes | Brooklyn,, NY | 10/09/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Slowly but surely, the music of David Diamond is taking it's rightful place in the canon of American music. Diamond is one of the most deft and versitle composers of the generation of the 30's, with more craft than Roy Harris, and more discipline than Copland. Up until now, most of his CD repertiore has been devoted to the symphonies. But with this new Albany release, the good news is that the entire Diamond string quartet cycle is going to be available. And this inaugural release is a wonderful start.The standout on this CD is the 3rd Quartet. Written in the 40's the Quartet is a deeply personal response to the death of a dear friend of Diamond's. Each movement is exquisitely crafted, based on Diamond's personal modal style. But the final movement is shattering. It packs more real emotion into it than other more obvious elegies like the Barber Adagio. This is music that come directly from the heart and works directly on the heart. I have rarely heard Diamond so deep and direct.The other works on the disc are equally as well crafted, if not quite as moving. The Concerto for String Quartet is a charming piece, modernist in a Stravinskian sense, but not too dissonant. And the slow movement is gorgeous. The 8th quartet comes out of Diamond's 12 note period. Though he never totally embraced serialism, like so many other composers of his generation, in the 50s and 60s his language became much more dissonant and chromatic. This change lead to some works of less than stellar quality, but the 8th quartet is not one of them. In this work, the 12 note language is sharp and incisive and yet deeply based in tonality. The lines move in ways that the ear accepts and the musical logic is impeccable. The performances by the Potomac String Quartet of Washington DC are excellent. And in the 3rd quartet, they compare favorably to a live performance that I heard in the 80's by the Juilliard Quartet. This is an exciting release for anyone interested in American music of the 30s and 40s. Let's hope that the series can be finished while we still have Diamond around to supervise. Keep it going, Albany!"

Start here to discover Diamond's talent for chamber music

Frank Camm | Northern Virginia | 12/09/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Magnificant! Bright, sinuous, warm, energetic, transparent. Tonal throughout. As I discover more Diamond, my love for him grows, and this is right up my alley.



Concerto: Mildly astringent tonality and counterpoint throughout; many minor keys. tr 1: Highly rhythmic, contrapuntal with a round moving through parts. Slavic flavor, but neoclassical. tr 2: Sliding waltz, crisply neoclassical but warm. tr 3: A complete change of pace-cello leads a spare, soft, doleful rumination. tr 4: Spritely, crisp, spare fugue.



Qrt #3: tr 5: Long melody lines pursue one another in a quiet, precise, neoclassical setting. tr 6: Quietly uptempo picture of purposeful, optimistic movement sweeping confidently across a landscape. tr 7: Lovely major-key melodies sweep quietly but insistently back and forth, evoking mature, tender love. tr 8: Song of long memories, quiet forgiveness, and tranquil acceptance of some sad event years ago in another life; a coming to terms at last (I can feel this music deep in my personal life).



Qrt #8: tr 9: Hard, tough. Questioning, challenging. A steady rhythm provides structure throughout. tr 10: Picks up the pace a bit, but remains gem-like hard and rhythmic. tr 11: Defiant rhythm marches out, with each instrument providing fractured shards of the whole."