Chiaroscuro Quartet - Haydn: String Quartets Op. 33 Nos 1-3 (2023) [Official Digital Download 24/192]

“Gut strings and classical bows are also the tools of a captivating quest for sonority”, French magazine Diapason recently wrote to describe the Chiaroscuro Quartet. After Op. 20, Joseph Haydn’s first major string quartet cycle, and Op. 76, his last, the internationally renowned ensemble is now embarking on the Quartets Op. 33, dubbed the “Russian Quartets” and dedicated to the Russian Grand Duke Paul, the future Tsar Paul I.

Having earned a reputation as eccentric and non-conformist, sometimes downright offensive, Haydn felt the need to write music more in keeping with the public’s lighter, more ‘popular’, less ‘scholarly’ tone, with a livelier sense of rhythm. And while there is comedy in some of the scherzos, it would be wrong to reduce these works to what some dour critics have called ‘comic fooling’. In Quartet No 1 in B minor, the comedy is cerebral, often disturbing. This is certainly not the case in Quartet No 2 in E flat major, nicknamed “The Joke” because of the sparkling tarantella that concludes it. In Quartet No 3 in C major, “The Bird”, Haydn invites us to a veritable bird concert before concluding brilliantly with its persistent refrain inspired by a wild Slavic folk dance.

Tracklist:
01. Haydn: String Quartet in B minor, Op. 33 No. 1, Hob. III:37: I. Allegro moderato
02. Haydn: String Quartet in B minor, Op. 33 No. 1, Hob. III:37: II. Scherzo
03. Haydn: String Quartet in B minor, Op. 33 No. 1, Hob. III:37: III. Andante
04. Haydn: String Quartet in B minor, Op. 33 No. 1, Hob. III:37: IV. Finale
05. Haydn: String Quartet in E flat major, Op. 33 No. 2, Hob. III:38 "The Joke": I. Allegro moderato
06. Haydn: String Quartet in E flat major, Op. 33 No. 2, Hob. III:38 "The Joke": II. Scherzo
07. Haydn: String Quartet in E flat major, Op. 33 No. 2, Hob. III:38 "The Joke": III. Largo e sostenuto
08. Haydn: String Quartet in E flat major, Op. 33 No. 2, Hob. III:38 "The Joke": IV. Finale
09. Haydn: String Quartet in C major, Op. 33 No. 3, Hob. III:39 "The Bird": I. Allegro moderato
10. Haydn: String Quartet in C major, Op. 33 No. 3, Hob. III:39 "The Bird": II. Scherzo
11. Haydn: String Quartet in C major, Op. 33 No. 3, Hob. III:39 "The Bird": III. Adagio ma non troppo
12. Haydn: String Quartet in C major, Op. 33 No. 3, Hob. III:39 "The Bird": IV. Finale


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