Voices of Defiance Dover Quartet

• Viktor Ullmann (1898 - 1944): String Quartet No. 3, Op. 46:
• 1 I. Allegro moderato - Presto - Largo 12:02
• 2 II. Allegro vivace - Poco largamente 02:44
• Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 - 1975): String Quartet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 68:
• 3 I. Overture. Moderato con moto 08:31
• 4 II. Recitative & Romance. Adagio 11:39
• 5 III. Waltz. Allegro 05:18
• 6 IV. Theme with Variations. Adagio 10:20
• Szymon Laks (1901 - 1983): String Quartet No. 3:
• 7 I. Allegro quasi presto 06:09
• 8 II. Poco lento, sostenuto 07:18
• 9 III. Vivace non troppo 03:25
• 10 IV. Allegro moderato, giusto 05:27
• Total Runtime 01:12:53

Info for Voices of Defiance

Voices of Defiance, the Dover Quartet’s second Cedille Records album, presents quartets of passion, hope, and resilience whose beauty defies the horrors that surrounded their creation.

“The young American string quartet of the moment” (The New Yorker) delivers an original, deeply felt program of three European composers’ distinctive responses to the destruction and despair of World War II. Czech composer Viktor Ullmann’s powerful String Quartet No. 3, written in the Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1943, draws inspiration from Debussy’s Impressionism and Schoenberg’s serialism. The ensemble’s muscular approach to Dmitri Shostakovich’s epic String Quartet No. 2 from 1944 emphasizes its tragic qualities, befitting the album’s theme. A captivating discovery for most listeners, Szymon Laks’s lyrical String Quartet No 3, written in 1945 following his evacuation from Auschwitz and liberation from Dachau, revels in folk melodies from his native Poland in contrasting scenes of heartbreak and ecstasy.

Winner of a 2017 Avery Fisher Career Grant and the first prize and all special prizes awarded at the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition, this “terrific quartet” (National Post) brings its “confident, sinewy playing of distinctive sound and ample nuance” to this recording of profound 20th century masterworks.

Dover Quartet:
Joel Link, violin
Bryan Lee, violin
Milena Parajo-Van De Stadt, viola
Camden Shaw, cello

The Dover Quartet
catapulted to international stardom following a stunning sweep of the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition, becoming one of the most in-demand ensembles in the world. The New Yorker recently dubbed them “the young American string quartet of the moment,” and The Strad raved that the Quartet is “already pulling away from their peers with their exceptional interpretive maturity, tonal refinement and taut ensemble.” In 2013-14, the Quartet was the first ever Quartet-in-Residence for the venerated Curtis Institute of Music, and is now faculty Quartet-in-Residence at Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music.

In addition to winning the Grand Prize and all three Special Prizes at the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition, the Dover Quartet has continued to receive accolades: in 2015 it was announced that the group had been awarded the highly prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award, and shortly thereafter, Lincoln Center awarded the quartet the annual Hunt Family Award, as part of the organization's Emerging Artist Awards. In its early years, the quartet also won grand prize at the Fischoff Competition, and special prizes at the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition.

During the 2015-16 season, the Dover Quartet will perform more than 120 concerts throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Middle East. Highlights include the group's debut at Carnegie Hall, and several residencies including those at Dumbarton Oaks, Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, and People's Symphony Concerts in New York. 2016 also includes the quartet's first tour of Israel, and the recording of three albums, to be released beginning next fall. The group regularly appears with acclaimed collaborators, and this season these will include such artists as Anthony McGill, David Shifrin, Anne-Marie McDermott, Avi Avital, and Edgar Meyer. The collaborations with Avi and Edgar will include extensive tours together next season.

The Dover Quartet participates regularly in some of the continent's most reputable summer festivals, including Chamber Music Northwest, Artosphere, Bravo Vail, and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and are active proponents of new music: this season included a premier of Pulitzer-Prize winning Caroline Shaw's new quartet at Dumbarton Oaks, and next season will include the premieres of multiple commissions, including works from Richard Danielpour and Michael Djupstrom.

The Dover Quartet was formed in 2008 at the Curtis Institute of Music, and continued their studies as Graduate Quartet-in-Residence at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music from 2011-13. Because of the exceptional faculty at both of these institutions, the group draws from the musical lineage of the Cleveland, Vermeer, Concord, and Guarneri Quartets. The Quartet has been mentored extensively by Shmuel Ashkenasi, James Dunham, Norman Fischer, Kenneth Goldsmith, Joseph Silverstein, Arnold Steinhardt, Michael Tree, and Peter Wiley, and is dedicated to sharing their music with underserved communities and is an active member of Music for Food, an initiative to help musicians fight hunger in their home communities.

This album contains no booklet.