Vaughan Williams Chamber Works
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Ralph Vaughan Williams
Label: Unicorn-Kanchana
Magazine Review Date: 9/1989
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 61
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: DKPCD9076
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
String Quartet No. 1 |
Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer
English Qt Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer |
String Quartet No. 2 |
Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer
English Qt Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer |
Phantasy Quintet |
Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer
English Qt Norbert Blume, Viola Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer |
Composer or Director: Ralph Vaughan Williams
Label: Unicorn-Kanchana
Magazine Review Date: 9/1989
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: DKPC9076
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
String Quartet No. 1 |
Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer
English Qt Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer |
String Quartet No. 2 |
Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer
English Qt Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer |
Phantasy Quintet |
Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer
English Qt Norbert Blume, Viola Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer |
Author:
Nearly 35 years separate the string quartets. The first was completed in 1908 after VW's studies with Ravel, of which it shows some, and none but fruitful, traces. Yet it could be by no one else and it is amazing that a work so melodious and skilfully written, with its especially brilliant finale, has not entered quartets' repertoires alongside the Elgar. The A minor Quartet of 1942–4 is unusual in being designed with the viola as principal voice (it is dedicated to Jean Stewart, former violist with the Menges Quartet) and is more sombre and challenging than its predecessor. The slow movement, a strange mixture of archaism and the desolate mood of the Sixth Symphony, is one of VW's most impressive and intense wartime utterances. Its mood, and that of the whole work, is excellently conveyed by these performers.
The Phantasy Quintet, a Cobbett commission dating from 1912, is VW in his most rapt and meditative vein, and if you love the music that this vein produced, you will wonder why this short and beautiful work is not more frequently heard. Again, emphasis is on the dark romantic tone of the viola, and Luciano Iorio and Norbert Blume take full advantage of their prominence.'
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