A lighthearted string quartet album might seem a tall order, but Britain's veteran Brodsky Quartet accomplishes just that with In the South, a miscellaneous-seeming collection of southern European (and in one case South American) pieces that nevertheless explores the deeper issue of why the music of North and South in Europe should have diverged as sharply as they did. The pieces here have been recorded often enough by themselves, but they gain something in juxtaposition. The pairing of Hugo Wolf's Italian Serenade -- the ...
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A lighthearted string quartet album might seem a tall order, but Britain's veteran Brodsky Quartet accomplishes just that with In the South, a miscellaneous-seeming collection of southern European (and in one case South American) pieces that nevertheless explores the deeper issue of why the music of North and South in Europe should have diverged as sharply as they did. The pieces here have been recorded often enough by themselves, but they gain something in juxtaposition. The pairing of Hugo Wolf's Italian Serenade -- the product of pure German late Romanticism who was fascinated by Italian music and by the model of Mendelssohn in dealing with it -- with Verdi's String Quartet in E minor -- a work in which Verdi tried, not entirely successfully, to reconcile Italianate melody with German sonata thinking -- is both rare and intelligent. In between we get Puccini's rarely heard and purely operatic Crisantemi (Chrysanthemums) and Joaquín Turina's La oración del torero, Op. 34 (The Bullfighter's Prayer)....
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Add this copy of In the South to cart. $4.65, good condition, Sold by Stephen White Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Bradford, WEST YORKSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2013 by Chandos.
Add this copy of In the South to cart. $35.67, new condition, Sold by newtownvideo rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from huntingdon valley, PA, UNITED STATES, published 2013 by Chandos.
