Prior to the start of the group's farewell tour in 2008, EMI released this five-disc set entitled ABQ -- Alban Berg Quartett -- Hommage. In it are cherry-picked performances recorded between 1979 and 2000 from the Viennese quartet's wide-ranging catalog. Naturally, the group's namesake's Lyric Suite is included along with two Beethoven recordings, one early, one late. Partisans of the group have long asserted that the Alban Berg Quartet incarnated the deathless spirit of Viennese quartet playing. But though its focused ...
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Prior to the start of the group's farewell tour in 2008, EMI released this five-disc set entitled ABQ -- Alban Berg Quartett -- Hommage. In it are cherry-picked performances recorded between 1979 and 2000 from the Viennese quartet's wide-ranging catalog. Naturally, the group's namesake's Lyric Suite is included along with two Beethoven recordings, one early, one late. Partisans of the group have long asserted that the Alban Berg Quartet incarnated the deathless spirit of Viennese quartet playing. But though its focused vibrato and supple tempo rubato do sometimes evoke the memory of Alt Wien, the linear intensity, individualistic ensemble, and unrelenting concentration comes directly from the group's career-long engagement with contemporary music. Every work sounds utterly fresh in these performances, as if each were newly composed and this was its world premiere. The player's passion can appear to threaten the music in passages of highest expressivity, but instead of going down in flames, the...
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