CD Review
Dvořák: String Quartet Op.96 "American", Jerusalem Quartet
- Composer
- Dvořák
- Artist
- Jerusalem Quartet; Stefan Vladar, piano
- Label
- Harmonia Mundi France
- Catalogue
- HMC 901899
- Reviewed by
- Sandy Matheson
Dvořák’s American quartet has never been short of fine advocates on record. It must have been one of the first Dvořák works to be recorded, there’s a beautiful 1928 performance by the Bohemian Quartet available on a fascinating double-album entitled The Czech Quartet Tradition (from Buddulph). It’s a piece that doesn’t respond especially well to the high-tension playing of many modern quartets; my shortlist would include the Smetana Quartet (on Testament), the Janáček Quartet (currently immured in a 7-CD set on DG) and the Quartetto Italiano’s 1970s recording, mysteriously unavailable for years. I suppose that some might find the opening of the Jerusalem Quartet’s new version rather over-projected; it’s certainly possible to sound more relaxed than they do. They do make a glorious sound, lit from within by Amichai Grosz’s fabulous viola playing. As on their previous two albums for Harmonia Mundi, the Jerusalems make no attempt to hide the strong personalities of their members. The result is not always ideally blended, but it’s always compelling; I haven’t enjoyed a performance of the American so much for years. Their coupling, the inspired Second Piano Quintet, makes an unexpected and most welcome pairing, with the Jerusalems’ fiery response tempered by Stefan Vladar’s patrician piano playing. This is another highly recommendable volume in Harmonia Mundi’s burgeoning Dvořák series.
About the ensemble
The Jerusalem Quartet was founded in the early 1990s by students at Jerusalem’s Rubin Academy and has since built its career substantially in Europe, recording exclusively for Harmonia Mundi across a repertoire spanning Haydn to Shostakovich. Violist Amichai Grosz, singled out above, later became principal viola of the Berlin Philharmonic while continuing to perform with the quartet. Pianist Stefan Vladar, their guest for the Dvořák Second Piano Quintet, is an Austrian pianist and conductor who won the Beethoven International Piano Competition in Vienna in 1985 before building a parallel career on the podium.
A note on this page
Originally published by Sandy Matheson, recovered from mmmusic's own archive and reproduced here as the critic wrote it.
Questions about this recording
What's paired with the 'American' Quartet on this disc?
Dvořák's Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major, Op. 81, with pianist Stefan Vladar joining the Jerusalem Quartet.
Who are the Jerusalem Quartet?
A string quartet whose recordings for Harmonia Mundi are noted in the review for not hiding the strong individual personalities of their players, the result described as not always ideally blended, but always compelling.
What makes Amichai Grosz's playing notable on this disc?
The review singles out the Jerusalem Quartet's violist, Amichai Grosz, for his 'fabulous viola playing', which lights the group's sound from within.
Is this recording still available to buy?
Yes, Harmonia Mundi's catalogue number HMC 901899 remains findable through classical retailers. We don't run an in-house shop, so we link out to Amazon and Discogs below.
What's the Harmonia Mundi catalogue number for this disc?
HMC 901899, a Harmonia Mundi France release pairing Dvořák's "American" quartet with a piano-quintet arrangement, filed under Romantic-era chamber and string-ensemble repertoire.
