Karl Amadeus Hartmann / Béla Bartok [Import]

Karl Amadeus Hartmann (Composer), Bela Bartok (Composer), Zehetmair Quartet (Performer), Zehetmair Quartett (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Zehetmair Quartet
• Composer: Karl Amadeus Hartmann, Bela Bartok
• Audio CD (May 15, 2001)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Ecm Import
• ASIN: B00004XO8C
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #412,555 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The Hartmann, completed in 1933, shows the influence of Berg's Lyric Suite as well as Bartók's 1928 quartet, with which it shares this outstanding disc. Hartmann went into "inner exile" after the Nazi takeover, refusing to allow his work to be published or performed in Germany. Performed abroad, the quartet won a Swiss prize in 1936. It's a powerful work, with a dark, tragic opening that gives way to furious outbursts and energetic declamations. Making an immediate impact, it should not be missed, especially in the Zehetmair Quartet's spontaneous, tingling performance. The Bartók is much better known and faces sturdy competition from the Takács, Emerson, Juilliard, and Vegh Quartets. But those are encased in complete sets and the Zehetmair's performance warrants duplication because it combines technical perfection with an interpretive freedom that gets to the heart of this masterpiece. Vivid engineering helps make this essential for lovers of modern chamber music. --Dan Davis

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars 5-star performances, but short playing time, October 1, 2011

By 

G.C. (St. Louis, MO, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Karl Amadeus Hartmann / Béla Bartok (Audio CD)

First, the good part: this is an absolutely terrific recording of these two string quartets from the years between the two World Wars. The Bartok is certainly the more well known of the two, but the Hartmann can easily hold pride of place with the Bartok in terms of its musical quality. Its language is in tune with the expressionist chromaticism of the times, and its inspiration never flags. It should enjoy more renown and popularity than it does, and one hopes that recordings like this will give the Hartmann quartet wider recognition. The Zehetmair Quartet is in top form, wonderfully expressive and intense.

So why only 4 stars for this recording, which has 5-star performances? The answer is the short running time of this CD, only 43 minutes for the two quartets. There was easily room for either Hartmann's second quartet, which times at just a few minutes short of half an hour, or another quartet by another composer from that inter-war era. Recordings of the Hartmann quartets are quite rare, while sets of the Bartok quartets are comparatively thick on the ground. I can't help feeling that there was a missed opportunity to spread word of both Hartmann quartets to a wider audience. If you find this CD, you won't go wrong with it. But it could have had more.