Finale. Allegro ma non troppo. Più allegro - Più presto
5:07
Quartet, Op. 76 No. 5 (Hob. III: 79)
20:10
in D major - in D-Dur - en ré majeur
5.
Allegretto - Allegro
5:09
6.
Largo. Cantabile e mesto
8:08
7.
Menuet. Allegro - Trio - Menuet da Capo
3:20
8.
Finale. Presto
3:25
Quartet, Op. 76 No. 6 (Hob. III: 80)
24:33
in E flat major - in Es-Dur - en mi bémol majeur
9.
Allegretto - Allegro
7:00
10.
Fantasia. Adagio
7:06
11.
Menuet. Presto - Alternativo - Menuet da Capo
4:03
12.
Finale. Allegro spiritoso
6:17
Total time: 70:16
Chamber: Doric String Quartet
Alex Redington violin
Jonathan Stone violin
Hélène Clément viola
John Myerscough cello
12 and 13 June 2015 (String Quartets, Op. 76 Nos 1, 5, and 6) and 26-28 July 2015 (other works)
Notes
This is the second volume in the Doric String Quartet’s series devoted to Haydn’s String Quartets.
Op. 76 turned out to be the last full set of six string quartets that Haydn was to compose. While they were written over the period 1796-97, they were not published until 1799. They had been commissioned by Count Joseph Erdödy, and such arrangements often entailed, as in this case, a period of time during which the works were reserved for that person’s exclusive use and enjoyment.
The composition of Op. 76 coincided with Haydn’s work on Die Schöpfung and the first few of the six masses which Haydn wrote for the name day of Princess Maria Hermenegild Esterházy, and one can readily imagine that such compositional preoccupations rubbed off onto the composition of the quartets. However, that cannot be equated with a particular predominant ‘opus character’, a feature of some of Haydn’s previous sets. Rather – like Op. 20, also recently recorded by the Doric String Quartet (CHAN 10831(2)) – the quartets seem to be most remarkable for their sheer variety. If there is anything they take from works such as Die Schöpfung, it is sheer plurality of stylistic references, a sense of traversing an entire world of musical possibilities.
Learned and rustic elements, for instance, are given exceptionally vivid treatment, and there are also passages of the greatest intimacy and grandeur.
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Reviews
***/**** (Good/Excellent Album)
Charles Bolzan – Musica magazine (Italy) – April 2017
"...a cycle that touches all bases." ****
Philip Clark - Limelightmagazine.com.au - 13 May 2016
“... the Doric’s daring, imaginative and technically superb performances demand to be heard. The recording, made in Potton Hall, Dunwich, imparts an ideal glow to the sonorities, while Dean Sutcliffe contributes a typically thought-provoking note.”
Richard Wigmore – Gramophone magazine – March 2016
“Haydn’s last full set of string quartets contains everything: sophistication, wit, startling innovation and occasionally disarming simplicity. The brilliant Doric’s stance is unapologetically of the 19th rather 18th century – slow movements tend towards the luxuriant, not just in timbre – yet always there’s a sense of clarity and precision. Their playing is hard to beat.”
Stephen Pettitt – The Sunday Times (Culture magazine) – 31 January 2016
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