Janáček: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2 - Martinů: String Quartet No. 3 Doric String Quartet

• Leoš Janáček (1854 - 1928): String Quartet No. 1, JW VII/8 "Kreutzer Sonata":
• 1 String Quartet No. 1, JW VII/8 "Kreutzer Sonata": I. Adagio - Con moto 04:39
• 2 String Quartet No. 1, JW VII/8 "Kreutzer Sonata": II. Con moto 04:16
• 3 String Quartet No. 1, JW VII/8 "Kreutzer Sonata": III. Con moto - Vivo - Andante 04:15
• 4 String Quartet No. 1, JW VII/8 "Kreutzer Sonata": IV. Con moto - Adagio - Più mosso 05:24
• String Quartet No. 2, JW VII/13 "Intimate Letters":
• 5 String Quartet No. 2, JW VII/13 "Intimate Letters": I. Andante - Con moto - Allegro 06:52
• 6 String Quartet No. 2, JW VII/13 "Intimate Letters": II. Adagio - Vivace 06:18
• 7 String Quartet No. 2, JW VII/13 "Intimate Letters": III. Moderato - Allegro - Adagio 05:54
• 8 String Quartet No. 2, JW VII/13 "Intimate Letters": IV. Allegro - Andante - Adagio 08:21
• Bohuslav Martinů (1890 - 1959): String Quartet No. 3, H. 183:
• 9 String Quartet No. 3, H. 183: I. Allegro 04:08
• 10 String Quartet No. 3, H. 183: II. Andante 05:11
• 11 String Quartet No. 3, H. 183: III. Vivo 03:17
• Total Runtime 58:35

Info for Janáček: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2 - Martinů: String Quartet No. 3

This new recording by the Doric String Quartet pays homage to the Czech chamber music of the 1920s, featuring string quartets by Janácek and Martinu. Exclusive on Chandos, The Doric String Quartet is now established as one of the finest young ensembles in the world.

The chamber music output of Janácek is relatively small but often programmatic. As acknowledged by the composer, the two string quartets are a vehicle for his deepest feelings. The mounting tension of String Quartet No. 1, which culminates in a less anguished last movement, emphasises the heightened feelings of love, passion, and remorse with which he was concerned at the time of its writing. As he summed it up, the work depicts the ‘miserable woman, suffering, beaten, beaten to death’ from Tolstoy’s Kreutzer Sonata. Titled Intimate Letters, the Second Quartet – the last work Janácek completed – fulfils an autobiographical function, being a no less ardent and personal composition.

The Third String Quartet by Martinu reflects the influences of his teacher Roussel as well as the night-life ragtime and jazz world of Paris in which it was written, in 1929. By far the shortest of his seven mature quartets, it yet gives a greater degree of independence to each of the four instruments, allowing for some striking harmonic clashes and colourful scoring.

“Anyone with an interest in the music, and an interest in contemporary string ensembles should hear this disc. If you hear it, I suspect you will acquire it.” (James Forest, Fanfare)

“The Doric’s Janacek is excellent in most respects. Their execution is immaculate, their phrasing sensitive and intelligent, and there is plenty of rhythmic energy. All the lyrical passages are beautiful, they usually bring out these works’ emotional turmoil very well Martinu’s Quartet is less nationalistic than Janacek’s, and the Doric’s energetic, virtuosic reading is splendid. The bright outer movements are played with panache” (Greg Pagel, American Record Guide)

Doric String Quartet

The Doric String Quartet is now firmly established as one of the outstanding quartets of their generation. In 2008 they won 1st prize in the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition in Japan, 2nd prize at the Premio Paolo Borciani International String Quartet Competition in Italy, where they also received a special mention for their performance of Haydn, and the Ensemble Prize at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Germany.

Now in its 12th season highlights over the last year have included a critically acclaimed Haydn evening at Wigmore Hall broadcast by BBC Radio 3, debut recitals in Paris (Auditorium du Louvre), Milan and Frankfurt, and visits to the Schwetzinger, Florestan, Isle of Man and East Neuk Festivals. Further afield the Quartet toured throughout Japan and returned to Israel and South East Asia. They have collaborated with Mark Padmore, Chen Halevi, Julius Drake, Piers Lane, Melvyn Tan, the Leopold String Trio and Florestan Trio.

During 2009/10 the Quartet return to Wigmore Hall four times, as Quartet and in recitals with Philip Langridge, Andrew Kennedy (for a world premiere) and Alasdair Beatson. Future engagements include recitals at the Konzerthaus in Berlin and in Lucerne, Brussels and Hamburg, return visits to Israel and Italy, and debut concerts in Australia, New Zealand, Spain, and the USA.

In November the Doric’s first commercial CD is released on the Wigmore Hall Live label of their Haydn concert at Wigmore Hall on 15 January 2009 and in 2010 they record their first CD for Chandos as part of a long-term collaboration.

Formed in 1998 at Pro Corda, The National School for Young Chamber Music Players, in Suffolk, from 2002 the Doric String Quartet studied on the Paris-based ProQuartet Professional Training Program, where they worked with members of the Alban Berg, Artemis, Hagen and LaSalle Quartets and with Gyorgy Kurtag. The Quartet continue to work with Rainer Schmidt (Hagen Quartet) at the Music Academy in Basel.

In 2000 the Doric String Quartet won the inaugural Bristol Millennium Chamber Music Competition which led to a seven year residency at the Wiltshire Music Centre combining a concerts series with education work across the region. They continue this relationship as ‘Artists in Association’. The Quartet went on to give recitals at the Purcell Room and Wigmore Hall under the auspices of the Park Lane Group, appeared at the ORF (Austrian Radio) Funkhaus in Vienna in 2003 and made their Edinburgh Festival debut in 2006.

Alex Redington and Jonathan Stone completed their postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music in 2005 where they studied with Howard Davis. Simon Tandree studied in Saarbrücken and Detmold with Dietmut Poppen. John Myerscough graduated from Selwyn College, Cambridge in 2003 and is now a Fellow of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he studies with Louise Hopkins.

The Doric String Quartet acknowledges the generous support of an Anonymous Foundation.

This album contains no booklet.