Tír Na HiFi

Really very fine performances as one would expect.

fergus wrote:


Really very fine performances as one would expect.

What else can you expect from Quartetto Italiano? Elegance and musicianship.

Jose Echenique wrote:

fergus wrote:


Really very fine performances as one would expect.

What else can you expect from Quartetto Italiano? Elegance and musicianship.

The Quartetto Italiano are my favourite performers of all string quartets and quintets regardless of the composer. And their Schubert, their Schubert is heavenly, it is beyond compare.

It would be a close call for me with Quatuor Mosaïques, Seán. Surely the Mosaïques inherited the superb musicianship and poise of the Italiano, but they have the advantage of no vibrato and gut strings... at least in Mozart and Haydn.

Jose Echenique wrote:It would be a close call for me with Quatuor Mosaïques, Seán. Surely the Mosaïques inherited the superb musicianship and poise of the Italiano, but they have the advantage of no vibrato and gut strings... at least in Mozart and Haydn.

Oh I love the sound and the interpretations by the Quatuor Mosaïques but if I had to choose one string quartet over all others my heart would lead me to the Italians.

Quartetto Italiano vs. Quatuor Mosaïques is an interesting discussion guys. Both are truly excellent performers but if I had to chose only one I think that I would probably also come down on the side of the Quatuor Mosaïques.

This evening, a powerful performance of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Karel Ancerl....

Jan Garbarek: Mnemosyne....





I have been listening to this 2 CD set over the weekend and it is quite unlike anything that I have heard before. Those here in the Classical Music section will be familiar with the excellent vocal ensemble The Hilliard Ensemble and also of the music that they perform on this set namely Tallis, Dufay etc. However they also sing various other folk songs to their normal high standard. The difference comes with the “free accompaniment” of Jan Garbarek playing on either a soprano or tenor saxophone. I have never hever heard of this instrumentalist before but I read somewhere recently that his album that preceded this particular one, Officium, was ECM’s biggest seller ever!

On one level this sounds like Gregorian Chant being accompanied by the ravings of a solo jazz saxophonist yet on another level the fusion of the vocals and the solo saxophone is on a ethereal plane all of its own. I can see why it polarizes opinion on each end of the spectrum!

I have several LPs with Jan Garbarek playing soprano and tenor, they are all on the excellent ECM label. Enjoy.

fergus wrote:Quartetto Italiano vs. Quatuor Mosaïques is an interesting discussion guys. Both are truly excellent performers but if I had to chose only one I think that I would probably also come down on the side of the Quatuor Mosaïques.

Except maybe for the Ravel & Debussy quartets LOL!