Tchaikovsky, Korngold: String Sextets The Nash Ensemble

• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893): Sextet in D Minor, Op. 70, TH 118 "Souvenir de Florence":
• 1 Tchaikovsky: Sextet in D Minor, Op. 70, TH 118 "Souvenir de Florence": I. Allegro con spirito 10:30
• 2 Tchaikovsky: Sextet in D Minor, Op. 70, TH 118 "Souvenir de Florence": II. Adagio cantabile e con moto 10:01
• 3 Tchaikovsky: Sextet in D Minor, Op. 70, TH 118 "Souvenir de Florence": III. Allegretto moderato 06:47
• 4 Tchaikovsky: Sextet in D Minor, Op. 70, TH 118 "Souvenir de Florence": IV. Allegro vivace 07:17
• Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897 - 1957): String Sextet in D Major, Op. 10:
• 5 Korngold: String Sextet in D Major, Op. 10: I. Moderato – Allegro 10:55
• 6 Korngold: String Sextet in D Major, Op. 10: II. Adagio 10:27
• 7 Korngold: String Sextet in D Major, Op. 10: III. Intermezzo. Moderato, con grazia 07:00
• 8 Korngold: String Sextet in D Major, Op. 10: IV. Finale. Presto 07:08
• Total Runtime 01:10:05

Info for Tchaikovsky, Korngold: String Sextets

The teenage Korngold possessed a compositional fluency and maturity which belied his youth; in contrast, Tchaikovsky feared—wholly unjustifiably—his own creative powers to be on the wane when writing Souvenir de Florence. The Nash Ensemble brings passion and conviction to both.

The two string sextets paired here are separated by little more than twenty-five years and share a common tonal centre (D), yet they hail from opposite ends of their composers’ careers. Korngold’s sextet received its first performance a few weeks before the composer turned twenty; Tchaikovsky’s ‘Souvenir de Florence’, in contrast, was a late work that was first performed in its revised version less than a year before the Russian’s death. Both works grapple successfully with the challenge of writing for pairs of violins, violas and cellos—‘six independent yet homogenous voices’, as Tchaikovsky described to his brother, Modest. ‘This’, he stated, ‘is unimaginably difficult.’ ...

The Nash Ensemble

The Nash Ensemble
The Nash Ensemble Resident Chamber Ensemble at London’s Wigmore Hall, is regarded as a standard-bearer of British music-making, and has been acclaimed by The Independent as a ‘chamber music group beyond compare’. The Nash Ensemble has built up a remarkable reputation as one of Britain’s finest ensembles and, through the dedication of its founder and artistic director Amelia Freedman and the calibre of its players, has gained a similar reputation all over the world. The repertoire is vast and the imaginative, innovative and unusual programmes are as finely architectured as the beautiful Nash terraces in London from which the group takes its name. The Nash Ensemble is not classically restricted; it performs with equal sensitivity and musicality works from Mozart to the avant-garde. Indeed, it is one of the major contributors towards the recognition and promotion of many leading composers, the group having premiered over 320 new works by 225 different composers, including 224 commissions written specially for the ensemble, thereby providing a legacy for generations to come.

An impressive collection of recordings illustrates the same varied and colourful combination of classical masterpieces, little-known neglected gems and important contemporary works. Notable recordings for Hyperion include a series of works by British composers of the first half of the twentieth century; string quintets by Mozart, Brahms, Bruch and Beethoven; works by Czech composers incarcerated in the Theresienstadt concentration camp between 1941 and 1945; and chamber works by Fanny Mendelssohn and Clara Schumann, as well as Max Bruch and Ferdinand Ries.

The Nash has made many foreign tours; concerts have been given throughout Europe, the USA and Canada. The group is a regular visitor to many European and British music festivals, and can be heard on radio, television, at the BBC Proms, and at music clubs throughout the country. Since 1979 it has presented a celebrated series every season at Wigmore Hall exploring the many facets of the chamber music repertoire.

The ensemble won The Edinburgh Festival Critics’ music award ‘for general artistic excellence’, and in 1990 and 2003 The Royal Philharmonic Society’s small ensemble award ‘for the breadth of its taste and its immaculate performance of a wide range of music’.

Booklet for Tchaikovsky, Korngold: String Sextets