Labyrinth: Mozart, Ligeti & Bach

Labyrinth: Mozart, Ligeti & Bach

Regular price £12.99
Total playing time [55:24]

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Dudok Kwartet Amsterdam
Judith van Driel (violin 1)
Marleen Wester (violin 2)
Lotte de Vries (viola)
David Faber (cello)

Following on from their critically acclaimed debut album (Métamorphoses: Haydn, Ligeti & Brahms), the Dudok Qaurtet Amsterdam returns to the Resonus label with a compelling programme of works around the theme of counterpoint & labyrinth.

Alongside the first of Mozart’s ‘Haydn’ Quartets the group presents György Ligeti’s complex micropolyphonic second string quartet, while completing the album are musical puzzles in the form of canons by J.S. Bach.

Album Booklet (PDF)

Tracklist

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
String Quartet No. 14 in G major, KV 387
1. Allegro vivace assai
2. Menuetto & Trio
3. Andante cantabile
4. Molto allegro

György Sándor Ligeti (1923-2006)
String Quartet No. 2 (1968)
5. Allegro nervoso
6. Sostenuto, molto calmo
7. Come un meccanismo di precisione
8. Presto furioso, brutale, tumultuoso
9. Allegro con delicatezza

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
10. Canon zu vier Stimmen, BWV 1074
11. Canon zu vier Stimmen und Bass, BWV 1077
12. Canon zu acht Stimmen, BWV 1072
13. Canon zu sieben Stimmen mit feststehenden Bass BWV 1078

'Mozart uses rhythmic and dynamic ruses to confuse us in his String Quartet No 14 in G major and wrong-foots us completely with a double fugue, while Ligeti employs thickets of micropolyphony to obscure the way through his frightening String Quartet No 2, cogently played by these imaginative players.'

- The Observer

'The Dudok Quartet responds brilliantly to all [the] facets of Ligeti’s persona, and their performance can fully stand comparison with the Arditti Quartet’s 1994 recording, which was supervised by the composer…both [the Mozart] and the contrapuntal web of the Bach canons make fascinating companion-pieces to the Ligeti'
BBC Music Magazine

'[...] the combination of Ligeti and Mozart's lively 14th string quartet works like a surprise. During Ligeti your attention is drawn towards the melodic diversions, and in Mozart you suddenly hear a chromatic master of form. Dudok approaches both composers with the same devotion and wealth of sound, without weakening stylistic details.'
NRC Handelsblad

'Rarely one sees musical worlds that are so distant from another. But, just as rarely, musicians are able to give full weight to this music. The quartet convincingly transforms their warm and ethereal Mozart-sound into the more contemporary qualities called for by Ligeti.'
Nederlands Dagblad

'Mozart uses rhythmic and dynamic ruses to confuse us in his String Quartet No 14 in G major and wrong-foots us completely with a double fugue, while Ligeti employs thickets of micropolyphony to obscure the way through his frightening String Quartet No 2, cogently played by these imaginative players.'
The Observer

Disc of the Week (23-27 January 2017)
Classic FM Nederland

'Mozart's string quartet in G major K.387 sounds as you would wish any Mozart to sound: nimble, melodious and with a difficult to realize playful seriousness. The second string quartet by György Ligeti, in which he forcefully stretched the boundaries of the genre in 1968, is an experience of the highest order.'
Het Parool

Credits
© 2017 Resonus Limited
Ⓟ 2017 Resonus Limited
Catalogue No. RES10180
Producer, engineer & editor: Adam Binks
EAN: 5060262790854
Cover image by Daan van der Horst