Fanfare Magazine, September-October, 2013: Review of JANÁČEK String Quartets

JANÁCEK String Quartets.  

No. 1, "Kreutzer Sonata"; No. 2, "lntimate Letters".

Arianna String Quartet CENTAUR 3198 (44:12)

Although Leo Tolstoy said that "...if a work of art needs to be explained it has already failed in its purpose," he felt compelled to write an explanation of his brutal, psychologically complex, and uncharacteristic novella The Kreutzer Sonata. The explanation itself is also rather complex, and when one adds to this the complexity of Janáček’s opposition to Tolstoy's views, and the vagueness of the musical program, it is best to lay plot and sequence aside, and address the purely musical content of the String Quartet No. 1. The same can be said for the loosely programmatic "Intimate Letters." The "...pure emotion, sincerity, truth, [and] ardent love" that the composer tells us is at the heart of the matter should suffice.  Both quartets are works of great dramatic breadth, placing formidable technical, poetic, and human demands on the musicians.

These performances of the Arianna String Quartet demonstrate how technical excellence, in alliance with imagination and the human heart, can come to create something truly transcendent. The players, virtually faultless in their musicianship, provide a powerful vision, and a sense of humanity more far reaching than the hard and glossy reading of the Emerson Quartet, in spite of their virtuosity, or the Smetana Quartet in spite of their florid tone.

                 

Raymond Beegle

Fanfare September/October 2013

Our recording, Janáček String Quartets, features Leoš Janáček's riveting, emotionally-charged works  "The Kreutzer Sonata" and "Intimate Letters".  These two quartets, on the Centaur label, are available on Amazon.com and iTunes. 

Die Burger (The Citizen) Review

Our summer concert tour in South Africa included Cape Town Concert Series;  Endler Hall Series; St. Andrews Concert Series; and University of the Western Cape.   Please enjoy the Cape Town review translated from Afrikans.

 The Citizen, August 18, 2013

CAPE TOWN -The Arianna String Quartet from the USA expertly performed three magnificent works for the Cape Town Concert Series on Saturday. The well-balanced program began with Mozart’s Quartet K.387, followed by Shostakovich Quartet No. 3 in F Major, Op. 73, and ended with Schubert's Quartet in D minor (Death and the Maiden).

The four players names were not in the printed program, and the violist introduced herself and her colleagues to the audience eloquently. As was the case with their previous visit in May 2011, the quartet's playing was characterized by flawless ensemble and excellent balance.

The sound of the 4 instruments blended beautifully, although there were passages where one instrument or another came to the fore with more important melodic material. These moments gave each individual the opportunity to demonstrate their technical proficiency and beautiful sound control.

The highlight of the evening was the Schubert Death and the Maiden quartet. This profound work in which death is such an important element is always an emotional experience that one is not likely to forget in a hurry, particularly if it is performed in as outstanding a manner as the Arianna String Quartet did on Saturday night.