Mélodies Infinies: Fauré, Enescu - Piano Quartets

by Catalin Serban, Andrei Ionita, Suyeon Kang, Karolina Errera

Overview

This Naxos recording landed without much fanfare in early 2024; the Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 15, of Gabriel Fauré and the Piano Quartet No. 1 in D major, Op. 16, of George Enescu are not much heard, and the market wasn't clamoring for new recordings of them. The album features four younger players from the German scene who weren't known as a unit. As it happens, this is an unusually satisfying chamber music release. Enescu is linked to Fauré as his student and also through the slightly reluctant influence of Brahms upon each, but the link is even tighter here. Both of these works have extraordinary lyrical slow movements that are worth the listener's money or time by themselves, and it seems likely that Enescu's was modeled on Fauré's. More generally, the two works show something unusually deep about the nature of influence; Enescu's quartet is cut from the same cloth as Fauré's, but it introduces hints of Impressionist harmony and, in the finale, an Eastern European rhythmic romp. The players deliver performances that are both precise and enthusiastic, and about all there is to complain of here is Naxos' murky, bad-old-days sound from Berlin's Ölberg Kirche. An intelligent pairing, executed nicely. ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	01/12/2024
Label:	NAXOS
UPC:	0730099147736

Tracks

1. Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 15~I. Allegro molto moderato
2. Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 15~II. Scherzo: Allegro vivo
3. Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 15~III. Adagio
4. Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 15~IV. Allegro molto
5. Piano Quartet No. 1 in D major, Op. 16~I. Allegro moderato
6. Piano Quartet No. 1 in D major, Op. 16~II. Andante mesto
7. Piano Quartet No. 1 in D major, Op. 16~III. Vivace

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Catalin Serban   Primary Artist,Piano
Suyeon Kang   Primary Artist,Violin
Karolina Errera   Primary Artist,Viola
Andrei Ionita   Primary Artist,Cello

Technical Credits

Matthias Heuermann   Photography
Christian Dieck   Editing
Andrej Grilc   Photography
Leonie Wagner   Recording Producer,Mastering,Engineer,Editing,Mixing
Christoph Vratz   Liner Notes
Felix Broede   Photography
Nikolaj Lund   Photography
George Enescu   Composer
Gabriel Faure   Composer
Irene Zandel   Photography
C. Liedtke   Cover Graphics