Customer Reviews

Dvorák: String Quartets No. 10, Op. 51; No. 14, Op. 105

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The series of recordings of Dvorák's chamber music by the Vlach Quartet of Prague has been outstanding. Not only are the performances first class but the recording quality is excellent. This recording of Quartets nos. 10 and 14 has to be the cream of them all.

From the very first rocking notes of no. 10, op 51, it is evident this is going to be a world class performance. The opening Allegro ma non troppo is unforgettable, as the previous reviewer remarked. The richness of the sound, and the range of the interpretation from delicate to dramatic, are remarkable. The second movement, the Dumka, is done to perfection. The Andante relaxed and sensuous. The generally lively last movement has many varied moods, from lyrical to rough and tumble. It's a most wonderful performance in every way, an absolute delight.

No. 14, Op. 105 starts off as an adagio, but shortly reaches the main allegro theme, very memorably performed. The molto vivace, which at times is quite by slow and lyrical, is nicley pointed. The lento is exceedingly beautiful, played with great feeling. The final allegro is given a nice lilt, alternating with a fine lyricism. This is a really outstanding playing, most enjoyable.

All in all, this is simply one of the finest chamber music recordings I have ever heard.

This is one of the Naxos-recordings where you won't have to worry about the quality. It's first class playing as well as good sound.

The Vlach Quartet Prague offers great nerve and intensity as well as beauty to both of these lovely quartets, not beaten by any other recording, although there are others that are just as good (listen to the DG Dvorak-series for example). But at this price it's unbeaten.

The Vlach quartet here reminds you that Dvorak was one of the greatest string-composers of all time. The first allegro of quartet no. 10 will stay on your mind for a long time. Buy it!

The series of recordings of Dvorák's chamber music by the Vlach Quartet of Prague has been outstanding. Not only are the performances first class but the recording quality is excellent. This recording of Quartets nos. 10 and 14 has to be the cream of them all.

From the very first rocking notes of no. 10, op 51, it is evident this is going to be a world class performance. The opening Allegro ma non troppo is unforgettable, as the previous reviewer remarked. The richness of the sound, and the range of the interpretation from delicate to dramatic, are remarkable. The second movement, the Dumka, is done to perfection. The Andante relaxed and sensuous. The generally lively last movement has many varied moods, from lyrical to rough and tumble. It's a most wonderful performance in every way, an absolute delight.

No. 14, Op. 105 starts off as an adagio, but shortly reaches the main allegro theme, very memorably performed. The molto vivace, which at times is quite by slow and lyrical, is nicley pointed. The lento is exceedingly beautiful, played with great feeling. The final allegro is given a nice lilt, alternating with a fine lyricism. This is a really outstanding playing, most enjoyable.

All in all, this is simply one of the finest chamber music recordings I have ever heard.

The op. 51 quartet stems from Dvorak's middle years, and is a near-masterpiece, with a strongly poignant and colorful opening allegro ma non troppo, an exciting Dumka, a lovely serene Andante and an extremely inventive, atmospherically varied last movement of great distinction. The Vlach quartet plays this one to perfection and with the ability to emphasize the drama, the nuances in color and temperature and keep a firm grasp on the overarching structure; only intermittently are the balance between the instruments a little off (the first violin sometimes sounds like it is going off on its own, but that might to a certain extent be a consequence of the otherwise well-balanced recorded sound).

The A flat major is indisputably a masterpiece, however. The first movement with its almost intensely wistful introduction leads on to a charming, melodic material of typical Slavonic character, and the way this interacts with the superb second subject truly displays Dvorak's contrapuntal mastery - the themes are interworked to a remarkably brilliant effect. The second movement is a sprightly atmospheric furiant with a trio section again drawing on ideas suggested in the slow introduction to the first movement. The slow movement, with its masterly main theme, is as fine as any Dvorak wrote, but with harmonic subtleties that gives it a rather striking character of its own. The finale again shows Dvorak as the unfailingly inventive and inspired composer he was. And the Vlach quartet again provides very fine advocacy, capturing the varied atmospheres and moods and keeping the music flowing. I might, in the end, have heard more characteristic performances (from the Prague and even the Alban Berg), but I don't think anyone following this series will be in any way disappointed. Sound quality is outstanding.

I wonder how many truly first class recordings of core chamber music Naxos has given us over the years since the label's inception. Every so often, I take one down from my shelves and wonder whether it's time to replace it with one from a more expensive, prestigious label, only to find on listening and doing a little, light research that it's still the best in any class - and that applies to chamber music by Saint-Saens, Haydn, Schubert, Debussy and Ravel by a variety of fine ensembles such as the Kodaly, the Fine Arts and the Ensemble Villa Musica quartets.

It is apparent from the very start of the gently lilting first movement of Op. 51 that the musicians here, the Vlach Quartet Prague, have this music in their blood - as they should, being the modern successors of a Czech dynasty of quartets. They are evidently wholly at home with Dvorak's cross-rhythms in the "Dumka" - which Dvorak imported from the Ukraine - and are able to encompass the peculiarly yearning melancholy of the Romanza of the type that Dvorak could always invoke to contrast with the "furiant" of the preceding movement. The finale is one of those cheerful, driving movements based on a folk dance whereby a moto perpetuo is punctuated by sudden rallentandos, again so typical of the composer.

The Op. 105, begun in New York but completed on his return, is another of those works in which Dvorak expressed his patriotism and nostalgia for his homeland by employing a range of devices borrowed from traditional Czech music. The opening is extraordinarily sombre and intense but soon yields to a consolatory melodiousness. The second movement is another furiant with many syncopations and a succession of rhythmic gear-changes. The Adagio is, of course - as is so often the case in such music - the heart of the quartet: it does not return to the stark sobriety of the opening but rather sings a tender refrain which courts sentimentality but avoids it through the delicacy and poignancy of its harmonies. The Finale is bold and dramatic; its headlong rush interrupted by an unexpected, lyrical second subject.

The recording is just a little too close; a bit of sniffing and extraneous noise occasionally intrudes but that is an indication of its clarity. It is very warm and beautifully balanced; every instrument is wholly in focus. A real bargain.