Has string quartet playing just got a whole lot easier?
mainFrom the Lebrecht Album of the Week:
…. The Aris go on to give a carefree reading of the Razumovsky, worlds apart from the stressed-out, middle-aged, male performers I grew up with. Has string quartet playing got easier, or have the players just got more relaxed? Has a better gender balance helped? Whatever the cause, the Aris play Beethoven with sweeping flair and something close to insouciance….
Read on here.
And here.
En francais ici.
In Czech here.
In Spanish here.
The Sacconi, The Carducci and the Heath Quartet also have a vibrant youthful approach – and several others that I could have named. More power to their elbows… and bows!
“The Aris go on to give a carefree reading of the Razumovsky, worlds apart from the stressed-out, middle-aged, male performers I grew up with.”
Well, Norman, I don’t know who YOU grew up with, but the Razumovsky performances by quartets such as The Italiano, Tokyo, Hungarian, and Guarneri don’t sound “stressed out” to me.
“Stressed-out, middle-aged, male”. I suppose you are referring to the Budapest, Smetana, Italiano, Alban Berg, Borodin, Guarneri, Juilliard, Emerson, etc.