Thursday, September 20, 2018

Danish String Quartet - Prism I (ECM RECORDS 2018)


For its third ECM release, the prize-winning Danish String Quartet inaugurates a series of five albums with the overarching title of Prism, in which the group will present one of Beethoven’s late string quartets in the context of a related fugue by J.S. Bach as well as a linked masterwork from the quartet literature. With Prism 1, it’s the first of Beethoven’s late quartets, op. 127 in E-flat Major, alongside Bach’s fugue in the same key (arranged by Mozart) and Dmitri Shostakovich’s final string quartet, the No. 15 in E-flat minor.


Danish String Quartet
Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen, Violin
Frederik Øland, Violin
Asbjørn Nørgaard, Viola
Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin, Violoncello

TRACKLIST

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH - THE WELL-TEMPERED PIANO
1 Fugue in E-flat major, BWV 876 (arr. Mozart) 02:02

DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH - QUARTET NO. 15 IN E-FLAT MINOR, OP. 144
2 Elegy. Adagio 13:27
3 Serenade. Adagio 06:11
4 Intermezzo. Adagio 01:36
5 Nocturne. Adagio 04:23
6 Funeral March. Adagio molto 05:03
7 Epilogue. Adagio 06:49

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN - QUARTET NO.12 IN E-FLAT MAJOR, OP. 127
8 Maestoso – Allegro 06:45
9 Adagio, ma non troppo e molto cantabile 16:23
10 Scherzo. Vivace 08:24
11 Finale. Allegro 07:06