Barber & Ives: String Quartets Escher String Quartet

• Samuel Barber (1910 - 1981): String Quartet in B Minor, Op. 11:
• 1 Barber: String Quartet in B Minor, Op. 11: I. Molto allegro e appassionato 08:01
• 2 Barber: String Quartet in B Minor, Op. 11: II. Molto adagio 08:09
• 3 Barber: String Quartet in B Minor, Op. 11: III. Molto allegro come prima - Presto 02:18
• 4 Barber: String Quartet in B Minor, Op. 11: IV. Finale. Andante mosso, un poco agitato - Allegro molto, alla breve 05:28
• Charles Ives (1874 - 1954): String Quartet No. 1 "From the Salvation Army":
• 5 Ives: String Quartet No. 1 "From the Salvation Army": I. Chorale. Andante con moto 04:36
• 6 Ives: String Quartet No. 1 "From the Salvation Army": II. Prelude. Allegro 06:15
• 7 Ives: String Quartet No. 1 "From the Salvation Army": III. Offertory. Adagio cantabile 05:18
• 8 Ives: String Quartet No. 1 "From the Salvation Army": IV. Postlude. Allegro marziale 05:14
• Charles Ives:
• 9 Ives: A Set of 3 Short Pieces: No. 2, Holding Your Own! (Version for String Quartet) 01:23
• String Quartet No. 2:
• 10 Ives: String Quartet No. 2: I. Conversations and Discussions 09:47
• 11 Ives: String Quartet No. 2: II. Arguments 05:01
• 12 Ives: String Quartet No. 2: III. The Call of the Mountains 11:10
• Total Runtime 01:12:40

Info for Barber & Ives: String Quartets

Previous releases from the New York-based Escher Quartet include an acclaimed set of Mendelsohn’s six string quartets as well as an album with works by Dvořák, Tchaikovsky and Borodin. For their latest offering the members have looked closer to home, however, choosing to combine the quartets by Samuel Barber and Charles Ives. The disc opens with Barber’s String Quartet in B minor, containing the music for which the composer remains best-known: the second movement which he two years later expanded into Adagio for Strings. Recognizing its potential already while composing it, Barber described the piece as ‘a knock-out’ – which made it all the more difficult to come up with a third movement worthy to follow it. In the end he decided to make the quartet a two-movement work, but the Eschers have here included the lively third movement that the composer discarded, offering the opportunity to hear the work as it was once planned.

Barber is followed by the two full-scale quartets by Charles Ives, as well as a brief Scherzo. Like many other compositions by Ives, his First Quartet makes extensive use of revival and gospel hymns, quoting them in all four movements in a highly accessible tonal idiom. Far more challenging, the Second Quartet is a portrayal of ‘four men / who converse, discuss, argue ... fight, shake hands, shut up / then walk up the mountainside to view the firmament’ – a programme which invites a liberal use of dissonance, but also – towards the end – a particularly fulfilling resolution.

"An outstanding recording, then, both artistically and sonically." (Lynn René Bayley, Artmusiclounge)

Escher String Quartet

The Escher String Quartet
The Escher String Quartet has received acclaim for its profound musical insight and rare tonal beauty. Championed by the Emerson String Quartet, the group was on the BBC New Generation Artists scheme from 2010-2012, giving debuts at both the Wigmore Hall and the BBC Proms at Cadogan Hall. In its home town of New York, the ensemble serves as Artists of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, where last season they presented a critically acclaimed 3-concert series featuring the quartets of Benjamin Britten. In 2013, the Quartet became one of the very few chamber ensembles to be awarded the prestigious Avery Fischer Career Grant.

Within months of its inception in 2005, the Escher Quartet was invited by both Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman to be Quartet in Residence at each artist’s summer festival: the Young Artists Programme at Canada’s National Arts Centre; and the Perlman Chamber Music Program on Shelter Island, NY. In addition, the quartet has since collaborated with artists including Khatia Buniatishvili, Leon Fleischer, David Finckel, Wu Han, Lynn Harrell, Joseph Kalichstein, and Jason Vieaux, as well as jazz vocalist Kurt Elling.

The Escher Quartet has performed at the Cheltenham and City of London festivals, the Auditorium du Louvre in Paris, the 92nd Street Y in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington DC and at the Ravinia and Caramoor festivals. Elsewhere, the group has toured China and made its Australian debut at the Perth International Arts Festival. Last season, the Escher Quartet returned to the Wigmore Hall and made debuts in Switzerland at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève and in Austria at the Schloss Esterházy in Eisenstadt. Highlights in the United States included performances at Northwestern University, the Coleman Chamber Music Society and the Buffalo Chamber Music Society.

The current season sees the quartet’s debut at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, as well as at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in Israel; in addition, the group tours the UK with pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, and continues its relationship with the Wigmore Hall, returning to collaborate with jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman. The Escher Quartet gives further performances at New York’s Lincoln Center and finishes the season with a return to Music@Menlo. Further significant debuts follow next season including Berlin’s Konzerthaus, the Rio International Chamber Music Week in Brazil and the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival, as well as a debut appearance at London’s Kings Place.

The Escher Quartet has recorded the complete Zemlinsky String Quartets on the Naxos label and released Vol. 1 in July 2013; Vol. 2 follows in Summer 2014. Forthcoming releases include the Mendelssohn Quartet cycle on the BIS label.

The Escher Quartet takes its name from Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher, inspired by Escher’s method of interplay between individual components working together to form a whole.

Booklet for Barber & Ives: String Quartets